It was Wednesday and they had gathered in the Empire Hall for the monthly lunch. They sat at tables decorated with flowers – the Rustics, the bell ringers, the sportsmen, and members of Graffham's unique District Nursing Association (DNA).

This is a very special village and this lunch is a crucial part of community life," confided one villager. "It keeps your finger on the pulse and lets you know that all is well."

Lillie Puttick is 86 and she has lived in Graffham for nearly 70 years.

A long-time member of the Rustics, she has only ever missed two performances. But now she sits in the audience and listens.

"My 80th birthday present was to register as a blind person," she says. But in Graffham she has enough support to continue an independent life and at lunch someone is making sure Lillie has her plate and they are on hand to take her home.

Someone else is arranging to go with her on the bus to do her shopping the next day. "It would have been devastating to people like me if they hadn't reopened the shop," she says.

The Village Shop committee, under the chairmanship of Jacqueline Woods, has been working hard for several months to ensure the future of the vital shop which closed earlier this year.

They were dealt a double blow when the post office announced it was axing the village service.

But just weeks ago it was announced there is to be a new face behind the counter and a post office outreach service has been set up two-and-a-half days a week in the picture framer's shop next door.

Lillie and others who rely on public transport in this remote haven are also deeply concerned about the loss of DoRiS, the 'dial a ride' bus. It will no longer pick up passengers from their homes – only from formal bus stops.

But Graffham is on the case.

The Observer's own Peter Pine-Coffin is another lieutenant in the army that keeps Graffham alive.

"If the worst comes to the worst, we will help those who need it, to shop online," he says.

The words 'unique' and 'special' are repeated many times as villagers try to explain what makes Graffham tick.

"There's no doubt people care about each other here," said Sylvia Smith, a qualified nurse, born in Graffham and with a family association in the village for several generations.

She is chairman of the DNA which was founded to support the district nurse and help villagers in need.

It provides three main services. A band of volunteers are on hand to drive people to medical appointments. The DNA has a bank of equipment for disabled people to borrow free of charge and it can award grants for eye and dental treatment.

It also organises a service picking up prescriptions from Midhurst (via the DoRiS bus) and Petworth which are collected by villagers from the Foresters Arms pub.

Mrs Smith is also a resident in one of the three cottages provided with a chapel that is another unique feature of Graffham.

All Saints chapel and its cottages were built by Col Loring, whose widow Eddye still lives in Graffham.

"He was horrified to find that a number of older people could not get up the hill to church and after an inheritance he built these three cottages and the chapel," said Mrs Smith.

The residents pay a modest monthly rent and in return look after the chapel, where services are held at least three times a month.

Currently Mrs Smith is organising a £1,500 project to replace all the 36 kneelers which are being embroidered in memory of villagers.

She is also chairman of the Thursday Club, a social group which organises outings and brings people together at the Empire Hall.

There are three ways into Graffham and no way out. Visitors arrive from Selham, from Heyshott and from the main Midhurst to Petworth road. They wind their way under those impressive rhododendron arches.

They meander past the Empire Hall, the listed war memorial, the shop and the beautiful old church at the top of the hill.

But when they reach the gates of Seaford College and look out across the impressive fields of Lavington Stud, they are at a dead end. Perhaps that is part of the reason the place is so different," ventures another villager.

"There is nowhere to go, so we get on with it here."

There are three focal points of activity in Graffham and there is indeed something for everybody. For many, life centres around the playing field looked after by Graffham Sports and Recreational Club.
It is home to the football club, bowls, cricket, tennis and stoolball and the children's playground.

It is also home to Graffham fete every year.

The man who heads the sports club committee is John Kewill and he has representatives from all the organisations using the area on his volunteer group. The Empire Hall, where the management committee is chaired by Maggie Paterson, is also at the heart of village life.

The hall, which celebrated its centenary last year, is home to the widely-renowned Graffham Rustics, to badminton, to the lunch club and Graffham Empire Movies.

And church life plays an important part in Graffham life. Father Mark Gilbert doubles as rector of Graffham and chaplain to Seaford College, whose gates are a stone's throw from the ancient shingled walls of St Giles Church.

Father Gilbert moved to Graffham seven years ago with his wife Margaret and their children Sean, Timothy and Ellen.

"I think Graffham thrives because it has no big roads through it and it is a traditional village – the way they used to be many years ago," Father Gilbert said.

"There are people who have lived here all their lives and there are those who choose to live here because they just want to be part of a village community.

"There are many people actively involved in the community from the church to the Rustics and all the other groups."

The Challen family is one of theoldest in Graffham. They were carpenters originally working for the Leconsfield Estate and living, along with all the other carpenters from the estate, in what came to be known as Carpenter's Town at one end of Graffham.

John, who worked on farmland around the village for much of his working life, and his wife June now live in Guillod Cottages.

Their son Trevor, his four children Thomas, Harry and twins Archie and Lucy still live in Graffham as does their daughter Wendy, who teaches at Seaford College.

"The earliest Challen I can trace in Graffham lived here in l777," said June.

"He was John's great-greatgrandfather and one of the carpenters, hoop makers and hoop shavers who lived at Carpenter's Town where there was a little sawmill.

"There have always been lots of Challens here and all of them great sportsmen and women – at one time there were enough of them to form family football and cricket teams which played on the playing field here."


ALL ABOUT GRAFFHAM

Parish: Graffham
Population: 600
Parish precept: £6,000
Parish council chairman: William Godman-Dorington
School: Lavington Park Federation of Graffham Infant and Duncton Junior Schools.
Headteacher: Helen Martin
Pubs: The White Horse, The Foresters Arms
Church: St Giles Church, All Saints Chapel
Facilities: Empire Hall, playing fields


Hitting the headlines...
Dec 2007: Post office reopens after raid
Aug 2002: Pants jape by streaker aged 84 at bowls match
Dec 2000: Royal birthday award for sports club's clean-up
Aug 1998: 400 villagers sign petition against 4x4 invasion




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