eastbourne Dee Sharpe 01323 649986 NORTHERNERS: People from the North of England can get together to reminisce on the first Thursday of every month at the York House Hotel on Royal Parade at 10.30am.

Anyone who used to live in the North can join this friendly gathering. For further information contact Mrs Still on 01323 642131.

GENERATION ARTS PROJECT: This is a project which aims to educate young people informally by encouraging social and personal development and communication skills while enjoying a drop-in which offers drama workshops, arts and crafts, video and photography skills and other activities as well as the chance to relax, make friends and have some fun.

For more information contact Jo Beynon or Alison Stanley on 01323 438687 or 07801 803579 respectively.

HOME FROM HOSPITAL: Age Concern runs this service which offers practical help and support for elderly people who have just come out of hospital. Phone Helen Lee at All Saint' Hospital on 733566 for more details.

NEW PUB: Wetherspoons has finally opened in the town centre after a four-year battle to get planning permission and a licence to convert the old Do It All store in Cornfield Road.

The pub is completely music free and does not have pool tables. One third is designated at a non-smoking area. It also serves a full menu all day.

BRIGHT IDEAS: The council have placed suggestion boxes in reception areas at their offices in the hope that people will use them to suggest ideas to make Eastbourne a better place to live.

Cooksbridge and Offham Mavis Clark 01273 473666

MILLENNIUM BUG: Not the one that got away, but this dreadful flu virus which seems to have taken its toll in the parish over Christmas and New Year. But in spite of that our rector managed to soldier on and take all of the services.

More than 90 people took communion at St Peter's, Offham, on Christmas Eve despite the atrocious weather, and the church was brimming over again on Christmas Day for the Family Communion.

NEW YEAR'S EVE: It seemed a fitting end to 1999, and the century, that a service was held in ancient Hamsey Church in the afternoon. It was to look back over the past millennium.

Following the service parishioners gathered from the small Norman church for a torchlight procession to walk back to the Victorian Gothic St Peter's at Offham, when the service focused upon looking forward with hope in the new millennium.

Both of these services were well attended, and following the service at Offham wine which had been provided by Lord and Lady Renton was served in the church.

MILLENNIUM CANDLE: Each household in the parish received a candle in time for New Year's Eve from the church, and candles were then lit just before midnight and placed in windows.

BEACON: Following refreshments for a small gathering in the Malthouse at Cooksbridge, the party made their way to be joined by others at Bill Rendall's field opposite Offham House for the lighting of the beacon at midnight.

Those attending wish to convey their thanks to Bill not just for providing the site, but also for the magnificent firework display.

At midnight the sky was ablaze with colour all round this area, and as we have such a superb view here at Courthouse, which stretches right over the Weald, it outshone the Thames display by a long chalk.

MALTHOUSE AFTERNOON CLUB: It meets again on Monday at the Malthouse, Cooksbridge, and members will be starting a brand new millennium pitting their wits against each other in a light-hearted quiz. The meeting is from 2.30 to 4.30pm.

The club is intended for anyone over the age of 55 and meets on the second Monday of each month. Transport to meetings can be arranged by contacting either Jenny Millington on 400896 or Susan Rowland on 477346.

HAMSEY PARISH COUNCIL: It meets tonight in the Malthouse, Cooksbridge, at 7.30pm.

MOBILE LIBRARY SERVICE: The mobile library visits Chandlers Mead, Cooksbridge, every Tuesday fortnight between 11.40am and 12.25pm. The first session for the New Year will be on Tuesday, January 11.

North Whitehawk Margaret Hothi 01273 623459

BOTTLE BANKS: Since the closure of the recycling banks at the garden centre, the nearest place for people in the north of Whitehawk to take bottles and newspapers is the household refuse site off Wilson Avenue.

However, this is often closed and getting there involves a longish walk down a road with no pavement. The site itself is rather like Fort Knox with high fences, floodlights and CCTV cameras.

No doubt there are good reasons for all this security surrounding our rubbish, but it would be much easier for pedestrians if the bottle banks could be nearer to the main road.

EASTBOURNE Mary Barlow 01323 725754

KEEP FIT: For all age groups who want to get over the post-Christmas celebrations. For children there is Hop, Skip and Jump at Eastbourne Academy of Dancing, Tutts Barn Lane (call Lesley on 01323 729574). For Over 55s there is Sports Plus on Tuesdays, 10am-noon, at Devonshire Park Halls (cost £2.50) and Fit Plus at the YWCA, Ocklynge Road from 2.30 -3.30pm (cost £2) on Wednesdays. Telephone Roy Masters on 01323 415409 or turn up on the day.

At St Elisabeth's Church, Victoria Drive, in the Crypt

on Mondays from 8-pm there

is Exercise to Music for ladies

(call Margaret on 01323 723870).

Also in Old Town, at Motcombe Swimming Pool every Saturday until January 29, there is a special offer. Buy one swim, get one free. Telephone 01323 410748 for opening times.

DANCE: Traditional 1950s Rock 'n' Roll dance tuition for both beginners and experienced jivers is available on Tuesday evenings or Sunday afternoons. Telephone Martin or Samantha on 01323 485498 or 07787 624978.

SUSSEX MUSIC HALL SOCIETY: The next meeting will be held as usual on the fourth Sunday of January at the Arts Centre in Grove Road, 7pm for a two hour show at 7.30pm. Non-members can buy tickets for £4: telephone Syd Hetherington on 01323 728554.

READING GROUP: The evening meetings are held in Polegate and the book to be discussed at the January meeting is The Hours by Michael Cunningham. Telephone Ian Pusey on 01323 483654 for further details.

VOLUNTEERS: Help is needed for a clinical study on corns. If you are in good general health and have a corn or corns on your toes and wish to participate, telephone Sylvia Parsons at the Leaf Hospital in St Anne's Road on 01323 645555. There will be eight appointments required over a period of 17 weeks.

ARTS CENTRE: The new season starts on Sunday with a double violin recital of all Prokofiev's Sonatas at 2.45pm (tickets £5, students £3) while on Friday, January 14, Love & Loss is a concert by the international jazz cabaret singer Angie Mills and accompanists celebrating the music of Gershwin, Cole Porter and other composers. Tickets £6, students £3.50 from Seaford Music, Cafe Continental on 01323 461489.

The Centre welcomes new members (programme/forms available in the Central Library, Grove Road. Annual subscription only £6).

FILM SOCIETY: The season resumes with the acclaimed Turkish film Haman at the Curzon Cinema at 8pm on Wednesday, January 12. Afternoon performance at 4.45pm. All screenings are open to the public.

MOIRA HOUSE SCHOOL: Senior pupils recently held a sponsored Poetry Marathon and raised more than £300 for the Downland Farm Project (EAPAG) and the Kosovo Appeal.

RETIREMENT: Jeannie Sowerby, who has spent 49 years in nursing and has run in 27 marathons, had a presentation at the District General Hospital to mark her retirement. She has also been a facilitator and treasurer for the Eastbourne branch of the Royal College of Nursing.

Preston Village Mike Panting 01273 563706

TAP DANCING: Tap your way into the new millennium! Linda Shepherd's classes resume on January 10. Adult tap dance classes are held at St Mary's Hall on Tuesday evenings, with beginners from 7-8pm and improvers 8-9pm. All classes cost £3.50.

Linda also runs children's ballet, tap and modern dance classes at the Florence Road Baptist Church Hall. For further information on these or the adult tap classes, please contact Linda on 556313.

PANTO TIME: The Stanford Avenue Players will be presenting their pantomime, Beauty and the Beast, at Stanford Methodist Church Hall on January 27-29.

ANIMAL FAIR: Local animal charities are combining for a fund-raising bazaar at Knoyle Hall on Saturday, January 29, from 10.45am-2pm.

Sussex Pet Rescue, Cat Welfare (Sussex), Wildlife Rescue, PDSA, Hen Heaven, RSPCA are just some of the animal charities who will be running stalls at this fair. As well as the usual stalls, there will be hot snacks available. Admission is only 20p.

MILLENNIUM CONCERT: To celebrate the millennium, Sussex Philharmonic Chorus are joining forces with the Brighton Chamber Choir and a local orchestra to perform the marvellous Sir Michael Tippett piece A Child of Our Time. This will be performed on April 15 at St John's Church, Knoyle Road, which has recently undergone major refurbishment which now facilitates the presentation of major choral works and concerts.

DANCE CLUB: Brighton and Hove Scottish Country Dance Club urgently require new members. So, if you like dancing, you can meet the members of the club at the Knoyle Hall every Thursday, 7.30-10pm, to watch or join in.

For more information call Elizabeth Rimmington on 504506. You don't even have to be Scottish or bring a partner.

SENIOR CITIZENS: A talk will be given on Friday, January 14, on the work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. On January 21 there is a whist drive and on January 28 Roy Robinson talks about his journeys in Africa. All meetings start at 2pm in the Knoyle Hall.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.