Holy Trinity Church - Coronation bells

It is the middle of March and we are just about halfway through Lent, with Mothering on 6th May, bells will be rung throughout the land to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III, and the bells in Cuckfield will be rung from about 9am that morning. The Coronation, primarily a Christian service rooted in longstanding tradition and Christian symbolism, will be an historic moment in the life of our nation. The tradition of ringing bells to commemorate significant events goes back hundreds of years.
More recently, bells rang out to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, and muffled bells sounded throughout the nation three months later, in September 2022, as a mark of respect at her passing. Holy Trinity has a peal of eight bells which are rung every Sunday morning to call people to worship, and are regularly rung at weddings and other special occasions throughout the year.

Six bells were recorded as being in existence in 1630, and these were recast in 1815 at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, London, two more being added at the same time. All were re-hung in 1903 and range in weight from the Treble at 5 cwt. to the Tenor at 15 cwt. Visitors are always welcome at our Thursday evening practice nights, whether to join in the ringing or just to watch the ringers and admire the bells.
At present we have nine Cuckfield ringers of varying ages, although sometimes we are joined by ringers from other towers. Bellringing is open to all ages and is not as strenuous as you may think, so why not give it a try? For more information, contact the Bellringers Secretary, David Wilson on 01444 456777. Holy Trinity will celebrate the Coronation again on the Sunday evening with a special Evensong for a King at 6pm.

Holy Trinity Church Cuckfield, West Sussex RH17 5JZ Tel: 01444 456461 Vicar: Vacant More information: www.holytrinitycuckfield.org Churchwardens: Jane Coan and Brian Cutler

Cuckfield opens its own Little Free Larder and Library for the community

A community larder has opened in Cuckfield to help support local residents and families who might be struggling with the rise in food costs. Helen Holman, who lives in the village, is the brains behind the kind venture: “My aim is to help everyone in the community who might need a little bit of help. Items in the larder have been donated by local people and the larder is there to support the residents who live here so they can come along and take what they need and leave what they can.
”The larder accepts all non-perishable items and even items that might have been partially used, because it might just be what someone is looking for and one less thing that is not wasted that day. People can also put books in and take them out if they see something worth reading and return it at a later date.”

Helen is also hoping that local businesses might consider getting involved and donating any items that they would otherwise throw away at the end of the day and try to limit waste where possible.

If you would like to find out how you can get involved or if you or your family are in need of a little help please search for the Facebook page or you can email Helen direct: littlefreelarderandlibrary@gmail.com.

Find the larder in the front garden of 10 Brainsmead, Cuckfield, RH17 5EY.

Meet Graham Silander in this month's Cuckfield Life

By Jacqueline Elmore

In 2020, while we stood on our doorsteps clapping and banging pans to show support for the sacrifices they were making, those very same NHS workers are now striking across England and Wales. Mostly in protest at declining wages, staffing conditions and the overall quality of care as a result of ongoing pressure on health services following a decade of budget cuts. Last month, saw frontline ambulance staff and call handlers go on strike for the fifth time. Yet despite the challenges they and we all face, the sentiment of the nation remains much the same: that the job they do is as important today as it was yesterday.

Graham Silander lives in Cuckfield. He also drives and works for the ambulance service and has done for almost 20 years. “I remember my first shift as if it was yesterday. I was terrified. There’s a photograph of me at my mum and dad’s all decked out in this bright green uniform, clean shaven with the look of absolute fear on my face. It was a night shift on Boxing Day 2005. It turned out to be a pretty bad first experience actually. You know how it goes. I was the new lad being shown the ropes and I think the guy I was crewed up with just wasn’t in the mood and probably just wanted to get home to his family. My next shift however was completely different. It was New Year’s Eve and everything just clicked. I loved it. I understood then that this was what I wanted to do.” Graham worked in patient transport for a year before he applied for his current job of Ambulance Technician. “I used to watch all the accident emergency guys with their blue lights and I thought maybe I could do that. I applied and got on the course and I’ve been doing frontline ambulance work for coming up to 18 years. I remember when I first started, someone saying to me that it might just be another day of work for us, but for most of the people we meet, certainly the people we should be meeting, it’s the worst day of their life.”
Graham who is now 45 is a husband and a father. The last few years in the job have been tough on him and his family, and the work is getting increasingly harder to do. “I’m tired. I’ve seen some pretty shocking stuff in my work particularly during March 2023 Covid. We used to say this was a job for life, but it doesn’t feel that way anymore. I can only speak from my perspective as part of the ambulance service. Imagine how awful it would be to work in a hospital A&E department at the moment. You only have to look at social care and all the other services that have been eroded by whatever it is – staff leaving, lack of funding etc – it’s just very sad because this affects everyone.”

Graham’s story is one that could be told a thousand times over. And there is so much more of the tale to be told, but there simply isn’t enough room in this Village People to share all of Graham’s insights.

To read more about Graham’s time working for the ambulance service, please find the full article in March’s issue of Cuckfield Life on page 26.