Sussex Advertiser - Saturday 02 January 1864

CUCKFIELD.

Christmas at Cuckfield.

A large number labouring men, working for W. W. Burrell, Esq., were supplied with a piece of beef each, as a Christmas present. There were also many others supplied with the necessary accompaniments of good dinner by Dr. Byass. The fife and drum band paraded the town at four o'clock on Christmas morning and also the evening, and finished playing for two hours at the residence of W. Sergison, Esq., and W. W. Burrell, Esq , where they were regaled with ale and 2s. 6d. each, as a Christmas box.

The church was very handsomely decorated by the ladles this town, and very beautiful it looked by gaslight. The paupers were regaled with a substantial dinner of beef and plum pudding, and the smokers and the old ladies with a plentiful supply of tobacco and snuff with a pint of porter for each; the boys and girls heartily enjoyed their oranges and "bull's-eyes," and their faces, as they retired for the night with a hearty "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” to Mr. and Mrs. Jones, testified their appreciation of the kindness and attention which the paupers uniformly receive from them. The chapel was handsomely decorated for the occasion, under the management of Miss Gardner, the schoolmistress, and such a happy day has not been spent for many a year by the poor in-door and grateful recipients.

The first Christmas holiday there was a variety of sports, shooting at sparrows, &c, at Mr. Tester's, Rose and Crown Inn, where a concourse of people were assembled. The shooting was considered of first-rate quality, 38 birds being killed out of sixty from the trap. It is regretted that a great deal of indulgence in the ruling god took place, and that many tried to sleep on beds that were considerably harder than feathers, but, found, after a lapse time, it would not do. It should be added, conclusion, however, that no breach of the law took place.