Pierpoint Pet Supplies closed its doors in September, ending a period of 36 years serving the village and its animal lovers. Andrée had worked in the shop since she was 18, with a small break but it has been in her family all that time. “I have mixed emotions,” said Andrée, “the lease is up and it is not worth renewing. We will miss all the customers; we are lucky, not all retailers get lovely customers, but they are animal people and they are lovely people.” Covid accelerated the changing habits of customers, especially the younger generation, with online orders and deliveries becoming more normal. “Foot fall is down about two thirds from five years ago,” commented Lee. “Things are not going to stay the same,” added Andrée “and things are supposed to change, if everything stayed the same everyone would be bored silly.” A fire in the shop was a low point although it bought a regenerated shop and they were able to trade from Washbrooks during that turbulent time. To thank them, Debbie Clare instigated a GoFundMe page for Andrée and Lee which has raised over £3,200. “We can’t believe how much people have given it’s been amazing - thank you very much everybody.” Andrée will be working full time for a butcher in Partridge Green whilst Lee will assess his options and they will both miss Hurstpierpoint but promise to still come and visit.
Sayers Common Village Fête launches this 2026
The inaugural Sayers Common village fête will take place on 13th June from 2-6pm at Reeds Lane Recreation Ground.
Shaun Hole, who represents Sussex Vale Rotary, Sayers Common Community Shop and Sayers Common Village Hall in various capacities, has been one of the driving forces, along with others colleagues from the Sayers Common Society. “All the other local villages have their fête or fairs, and we thought it would be good to get all the local organisations together, such as the Sayers Common Society, Rotary, Shop and Village Hall, who do great and perhaps unheralded work in the community, to start a new event for the village.”
Amongst other things, there will be classic cars, a dog show, a cake stall (with a competition being judged by the Keymer & Hassocks WI), you can play pétanque with the Twinning Association and Straw Dogs will be playing live. All proceeds of the fête will go to St Peter and James hospice.
Shaun and team are confident that it will be a success. “We will start off small and let it grow organically but the Jubilee celebrations showed that we can put an enjoyable and safe event on in the village.”
There will be road closures on the day, so see online for details nearer the time.