Lingfield & Dormansland Communit

Halloween at the Pumpkin Patch 2008

This years Halloween Family Party on Friday 31st October was a great success thanks to all the families that participated! There were lots of wonderful costumes and some fantastic decorations.

The children were all taken 'Trick or Treating' including a spooky tour around the grave yard. Many thanks to all those homes who received their guests. Lots of treats were collected and some tremendous prizes were received for family costumes and carved pumpkins.

Consequently we owe a huge THANK YOU to the following:

Harry of ‘Harry’s Village Shop’ for his kind donation of all the sweets and treat bags;
The Bengal village for a very generous £45 meal voucher;
Dave’s Fish and Chip shop for a £20 meal voucher;
Scotts Cinema in East Grinstead for 4 cinema tickets;
Lingfield Race Course for tickets to their Firework Night;
Lingfield School Cook Jane for the lovely biscuits;
PG Fruits for the pumpkins;
The Marchants for their special effects;
Samantha Boswell for designing and printing the tickets and posters;
All the helpers that made the evening such a success;
Hester and Michael you were stars.

Don’t forget to get in early next year if you wish to visit the Pumpkin Patch 2009!

All enquiries to Louise Martin 01342 832662 or Amanda Lowy 01342 833626

The 10th anniversary of Lingfield & Dormansland Community Centre gave an ideal opportunity to honour the memory of the late Sir Thomas Hetherington KCB, CBE, QC. As has been described elsewhere the Community Centre commissioned (with a grant from Gatwick Airports Trust) Bill Lazard to sculpture a triple relief depicting community in the form of an 'eye', 'lip' and 'ear' and is here illustrated. Sir Thomas or Tony as he preferred to be known was one time Director of Public Prosecutions (1977-87) and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service, a director of this Community Centre and gave considerable help in its establishment in 1998 and in its subsequent operation. Tony was a local resident and is remembered with great affection.

Therefore on Saturday the 9th July and between the showers Lady June Hetherington before audience of about 60 unveiled the sculptures to great applause and flashing cameras. Chris d’Avray the Chairman spoke of the work of Tony in establishing the Centre, his work and commitment to its success which success has continued through the 10 years. Bill Lazard spoke eloquently of how he conceived the idea of the sculptures, how he crafted the work and how it reflected the work and aims of the Community Centre and the vision that Tony had for it.

Bill Lazard a local sculptor, one time director of the Community Centre and popular tutor of the Painting and Drawing class was commissioned by the Community Centre to create a triple sculpture for the Millennium Garden in memory of the late Sir Thomas Hetherington.

Bill attended Camberwell School of Art where he studied painting, drawing, lithography, sculpture, lettering and general design. Following his studies he worked part time at the Royal College of Art . His teaching experience is wide having taught painting, sculpture, design and technology and the Welsh language. Bill was involved in pioneering work in association with Goldsmiths College and the Royal College of Art developing the philosophy and practice of design and technology in schools. After retiring from full time work Bill focuses his attention on his own creative work and some part time teaching of adults which includes his popular Painting and Drawing class at the Community Centre. Bill exhibits his work in various locations including Malmesbury Abbey Gardens, Ysolg y Pedol and

This 10th anniversary year of 2007/2008 has demonstrated the continuing success of the Community Centre’s both in terms of its use and development of its fabric and facilities. At the end of the financial year (31 08 2008), 1940 sessions was held representing 4,461 hours of use, a similar result as in the previous year. The most popular room is the Llewelyn Palmer Hall holding 658 sessions taking up 1547 hours of use. Activities are varied and seek to fulfil the aims of the Centre to promote and provide classes, groups, private functions, parish and public meetings and community events for the education, recreation and leisure-time activity of the inhabitants of Lingfield, Dormansland and surrounding areas. An average of 38 events take place each week and the list is impressive; 13 for young people, 6 art classes and various exhibitions including the annual Lingfield Art Exhibition, 4 dance classes, 6 exercise classes, a computer suite, National Blood Service, polling station. ‘Coffee and Chat’ is popular every Saturday morning when local folk meet, sometimes joined residents of Orchard Court and by the Community Police! Community events sponsored by the Centre are proving popular; the Llewelyn Palmer Hall is well used for Quiz Nights, Murder Mysteries, Race Night and touring theatre groups and more.

To recognize the essential ‘community function’ of the Centre, Bill Lazard was commissioned to sculpture for the Millennium Garden three reliefs depicting community by way of an ‘ear’, ‘eye’ and ‘lip’. Bill, a previous director of the Centre, is a well known local artist, teaches painting and drawing at this Community Centre and is a member of the Surrey Sculptor Society. He has had commissions from all over the UK.

The sculpture was unveiled by Lady June Hetherington in the memory of her late husband at our 10th anniversary on 2nd August, Sir Thomas Hetherington KCB, CBE, QC, who was instrumental in saving the building for and setting up this Community Centre. As a director and friend Tony (as Sir Thomas preferred to be known) is missed.

We Joined in the World's Biggest Coffee Morning on 28th September and made £426.78p for Macmillan cancer support