By David Tingley

Our new editorial assistant takes the form of Simon Yeend, a former sports journalist who has worked on national newspapers for more than 16 years. Simon, who has been a resident of Bolnore Village since 2004, has spent the last two and a half years looking after his youngest daughter and writing his first novel. “I’d been promising myself that I would do it,” said Simon, “and the natural break to look after Orla seemed like the right time.”

“I love living in Bolnore but I am also a huge fan of Cuckfield where my children go to school and where I walk my boisterous Hungarian Vizsla, Rufus, in the beautiful woods and fields that surround the village.”

Simon has got stuck in straightaway with interviews for features in this issue of Cuckfield Life, although he says that people are much quicker to respond to your phone call when you work for a national daily paper!

He would love to hear from anyone about fascinating residents who might make a great subject of our Village People feature, as well as local groups and societies that are keen to get their message out to the community.

Simon’s role is concerned with all aspects of editorial content, so do drop him, or me, an email on editor@cuckfieldlife.co.uk when you have a suggestion or news item or event to mention. Our strapline is ‘local village talk by the village’ and, as such, we love to hear from our readers – many of whom get in touch on a regular basis.