All posts by Lesley Crawley

I am a fully trained counsellor and psychotherapist and currently teach on a counselling degree course. I have an MSc in Therapeutic Counselling from the University of Greenwich. I am also a priest in the Church of England. Although faith and spirituality inform my practice, my training is based on secular models. I am not a Christian Counsellor, but rather a counsellor who is a Christian. I enjoy working with people from all faiths and none. I value working with people who desire to grow, find purpose, and find freedom from unresolved issues. I have expertise in working with trauma, particularly adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. I work with adults and currently, my practice is online.
St George's Church

Parish Fete

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The sun shone for us on 9th June — indeed it was almost too hot at times in the morning—and many willing hands helped to get the church grounds looking festive and inviting by 12 noon, when the Fete was officially opened. For the next 3 hours trading was brisk at the various stalls, and there were plenty of games and activities to keep the young, and not so young, amused. Entertainment was provided by the Maypole dancers from Badshot Lea School, and the band from TS Swiftsure. The Mayor of Farnham, our local councillor, David Attfield, spent some time with us, and drew the tickets for the Grand Raffle. By the end of the afternoon there were a lot of extremely weary people.

The refreshment team, under the expert organisation of Gillian Hyman, were rushed off their feet, as were the barbecue trio, with head chef Martin Reed. Maxine Everitt had once again, with her usual calm efficiency, planned and prepared the event, very ably assisted by her support team. After the first count it seems that approx. £2,600 had been raised, a good increase on last year’s figure. Many thanks to all those who worked so hard for the event, whether unseen in the kitchen or vestry, on the stalls, or helping to set up and clear away.

Margaret Dyer

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Vocation

Situations Vacant

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There are a number of jobs which have become vacant after a number of years work by a number of different people.  If you would like to know more about any of these roles please ask Alan or Lesley in the first instance.

Administration

We would like to build up an admin team to print the weekly paperwork and posters.  It could be shared across weeks or even within a week, and could be done on a Thursday morning while coffee is on.  Training in use of the computer and printer will be given.

There are also other admin tasks where help would be great – writing Baptism or Wedding Certificates, updating various spreadsheets – some weekly, some more ad hoc.

Electoral Roll Officer

This role involves keeping a list of those who have signed up to the electoral roll.  It is largely an annual job ensuring that the roll is up to date for the APCM in April, although there are occasional applicants during the year.  Every six years everybody has to reapply and this happens in 2019.  Full training will be given.

Magazine Advertising Manager

This is mainly an annual task and involves billing the existing magazine advertisers, asking whether they wish to continue, checking that the money has been received, and liaising with the editor to ensure that the correct adverts appear in the magazine.  There may be a small amount of work through the year if new advertisers are found.  Full training will be given, but there will also be the opportunity to shape the work to suit your skills and time.

Noticeboard Managers

We would like to build a team at each Church to keep the noticeboards, both internal and external, up to date.  Posters and documents arrive each Sunday in a brown bag and out of date posters need removing and new ones need putting up.  In addition the bag contains children’s colouring sheets, monthly news sheets and special orders of service which need putting out. Would you be willing to do this for your church?

St John's Church, Uncategorized

Welcome to Mary

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If you were at St John’s on Sunday 13th May, you not only saw a Miracle Play, you heard for the first time our new musician, Mary Klymenko, leading the music with her beautiful piano playing.

I met Mary at a music weekend in March. She told me that she’s a piano teacher, lives very near St John’s, and did we need any help with the music there? I said, “yes please”! I’d been worried because it was getting hard to cover all the services with such a slender rota of musicians. Lesley had told me to pray about it, which I did, and was answered with abundance.

The congregation was treated to a Schumann Arabesque during Communion that Sunday. Mary, although not an organist, can transfer her keyboard skills onto the St John’s organ, when it works! (But that’s another story). Mary and her husband have two young boys, and so she will just play at St John’s once a month. Thank you for making her feel warmly welcome.

Frances

 

St Mark's Church

All the Fun of the Carnival

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‘ROCK AGAIN, EMILY’!  This is the title of St Mark’s ‘Emily Float’ – a replica of Emily the Organ ingeniously constructed by Dave Walker and Paul Whewell, to be borne along on a trailer at TWO Carnivals :

FARNHAM CARNIVAL PARADE and FAYRE – Saturday 30th June.

The Fayre is in Gostry Meadow – 2-9pm – live entertainment and refreshments.

The Parade starts in the Upper Hart Car Park (just above Waitrose) at 6pm, and winds round the town through the crowds, returning to the Hart at 7.30pm.

The theme of Farnham Carnival is Rock and Pop Legends, hence ‘Rock Again, Emily!’  We hope to have wacky organ music coursing through her ‘pipes’!

The Emily float will make another appearance at the –

HALE CARNIVAL on Saturday 7th July.  The judging will start at the Hale School Field at 5.15pm.  The Procession begins at 6pm, and proceeds down the hill on to the green.  It does just one lap of the green.  This is a smaller event than the Farnham Carnival, but just as important, and it is our ‘local’ Carnival.

The money collected in the Carnival buckets will be distributed among many good causes.  And one is the beautiful Edwardian Emily who so deserves a thorough restoration. Then she will fill St Mark’s with glorious sound again.

Frances Whewell

Frances Whewell

St Mark's Church

‘Let’s make Emily Rock Again’

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That’s the title of St Mark’s entry for the Hale Carnival on Saturday 7th July.  The float will be a replica Emily Organ.

Chrissy has been busy collecting long thin and short fat cardboard tubes from ‘Freelance Fabrics’ and other curtain shops.  Yes, you guessed it: these tubes will be transformed into organ pipes. Some will be vertical, and painted silver, and others will be brightly coloured, and at rakish angles.

Dave Walker is the Master Mind behind this project.  He is constructing the base to support the 5′ high pipes.  Please come to that hub of creativity – the St Mark’s coffee morning each Thursday – if you’re a keen Pipe Painter, and help us make this float as attractive as possible.

The organ look-a-like will be mounted on a trailer, and recorded organ music will, we hope, sound as though it’s issuing from the pipes.  The keys of the instrument, not necessarily black and white, will be mounted on  the long sides of the trailer, so that the cheering crowds can see them.

Details of the time and place of the procession will appear in the July magazine.  Please support this crazy venture.  You never know, we might be in with a chance of winning the ‘Most Original Entry’!

Frances Whewell

Frances

Environment, St George's Church

Swift boxes at St George’s

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Yesterday nine new swift homes were added at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea. This was organised by Colin Wilson of the Blackwater Valley Countryside Trust. The boxes were built and installed by Paul Mascall and Peter Robertson, local carpenters who gave up their working time to help us.

Soon they hope to install a sound system to attract the swifts that were flying over their heads as the boxes were being installed. Colin says that “In the small churchyard there are many sparrows so there may be a battle next year for the spaces!”

We are incredibly grateful for those who gave their time to help install these boxes. Swifts need our help in finding nesting sites and hopefully nine families of swifts will soon be making use of their new homes. Thanks to to Bill Thomas, our churchwarden, who organised it all.

St George’s is an Eco-church and we want to do all we can to care for God’s creation.

Lesley Crawley

 

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Uncategorized

Remembrance Book at St John’s

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Did you know that there is a Remembrance Book at St. John’s Church, Hale which is usually positioned on a wooden stand to the right of the West Door, as you enter the church? At present, the book is not in place there because I am planning to get it updated by a retired calligrapher, Sheila Willings. I am very grateful to Sheila as she has kindly agreed to update the book for us free of charge, though the updating may take her a long time, depending on how many extra names I give her to write in the book!

The book has a beautifully illuminated Title Page commemorating Harry Corrigan who died in October 1987 aged 73. There are 28 more names in the book, written in beautiful handwriting. The dates of death of those in the book range from October 1987 to May 2002 but I can add new pages to incorporate other names and dates as required.

All the names currently in the Remembrance Book commemorate people whose ashes are in the Garden of Remembrance at St. John’s. I would be very glad to hear from you if: –

  1. you believe your loved one’s ashes are in the Garden of Remembrance at St. John’s, but their name is not in the Remembrance Book and you would like their name added to the book or
  2. your loved one is buried at St. John’s and you would like their name added to the book

I will need to know from you the full name and date of death in each case. As we are not paying Sheila for her work currently, there is no charge for any additional names to be added, though your patience would be appreciated while Sheila works through the list I will give her.

Do please contact me on 01252 406772 or at wendy.e.edwards@gmail.com with names to be added to the Remembrance Book.

I do not know how long Sheila will be able to do this free work for us, so we may need to introduce a charge in the future if we need to pay another calligrapher to do the work.

I look forward to hearing from you. I also wish to record my thanks to Christine Clayton for her invaluable assistance so far on this matter.

Wendy Edwards