The Middy April 22 1999

War brought a Canadian invasion

The official Peace Day on July 19, 1919 was celebrated by sports, tea and dancing in Cuckfield Park – but it was the last parish celebration to be held there.

In 1920 Mrs Worsley bought a field belonging to Ockenden House which she gave to Cuckfield as a recreation ground in memory of her husband Richard Worsley and all the Cuckfield men killed in the war. It is this ground just been used ever since for all public outdoor events, most famously in present times the Cuckoo Fair.

The Silver Jubilee celebrations of George V in 1935 illustrated two signs of the times in Cuckfield 

–a continuing sense of community in tandem with a new independence from the benevolence of the gentry.

At a public meeting in the Queens Hall, the vicar, Canon Wilson, was applauded when he proposed a celebration “in our own place and for our own people.”

The programme was on traditional lines of sports, teas and fancy dress parade but it took place on the Worsley Recreation Ground. The buffet tea (tea free, food to be paid for) was provided by a new group, the Cuckfield Women's Institute.

In the great depression of the 30s there was little development in Cuckfield – except the new houses in Courtmead Road – and the population fell slightly. It was now referred to as a village.

In September 1939 the War brought new life to Cuckfield. Around 100 children with their teachers from East London where evacuated to Cuckfield and housed with local residents. Most of the big houses in estates were used for Canadian troops who were billeted in Cuckfield Park, Ockenden House and Borde Hill.

The Cuckfield Union Infirmary was enlarged for the troops, later developing to the Cuckfield Hospital following the National Health Act of 1948. Throughout the war, a Royal Observer Corps post near the churchyard maintained an unbroken watch. The village hit the headlines on when the first flying bomb in England fell in a field at Mizbrooks Farm on June 13, 1944.

The post war years have been marked by the break up or commercialisation of the Great house estate, wide-ranging development in housing and education and constant battles to protect the countryside from the ravages of developers.

Cuckfield High Street has lost all its banks and most of its shops to the power of the supermarket; Cuckfield Hospital closed in 1991.

But the formation of the Cuckfield Society in 1963 “to preserve and enhance the essential atmosphere of the parish of Cuckfield”, together with the designation of the Cuckfield Conservation Area under the Civic Amenities Act 1967, helped create a powerful lobbying ethos in the village.

Another major force in the village is the Independent State of Cuckfield formed in 1965. With its Mayor, passports and currency it lent a famously quirky element to village life. But it followed a serious remit to raise money for good causes and over the years has raised thousands of pounds for local charities.

Although the Sergison Estate was broken up in 1968, Cuckfield Park was protected; when part of the estate called Beech Farm was put up for auction with planning permission as a sports centre, the ensuing battle was one of the major victories of the 80s. The Beech Farm Preservation Society was formed in May 1980, and together with the Cuckfield Society successfully bid £351,000 for the farm and wood, supported by a public appeal. New England Wood now belongs to the village in perpetuity. The peace of the village was further preserved by the long-awaited bypass which opened in 1989 at a cost of £2.75 million – those some sort it as draining the life blood away from the village centre, already hit by superstore competition and high rents.

The 1980s also saw two natural disasters which changed the physical landscape – on May Day 1980 the graceful eight sided church spire mysteriously caught fire and was completely destroyed within the hour; and the Great Storm of 1987 decimated New England Wood. But in the best Cuckfield tradition both have regenerated – a volunteer working party carried out a sustained programme of planting.

The Queen's Silver Jubilee celebration in 1977 showed that community spirit was alive and well as the event was marked on the recreation ground with sports, ale, a roast pig and bonfire.

The village surpassed even that during its 900th birthday in 1992– Celebrations for Cookfield 900 lasted a whole week.

Now Cuckfield is preparing for the Millennium and the organising committee – backed by the parish council and every other voluntary group – is determined that the village should enter the new era in the same good heart which marked the old.