Come and sing favourite carols under the stars at Carols in the Chapels in Upper Hale on Friday, December 5th from 6pm. A live band will be on hand to accompany the carols at this annual event in Hale Chapels Garden in the cemetery in Alma Lane. Afterwards there will be hot chocolate and mulled wine in St Mark’s Church, across the road.
Wrap up warm, sing with gusto, enjoy the hot drinks!
Welcome to Advent – the beginning of the Church’s year and the last month of 2025.
And that means Christmas! Inside the magazine you will find news of all our Christmas services and other events, including our Christmas Tree Festival on December 5-7, and of course carol services and outdoor carol singing and Christmas services. It is a most wonderful time of the year, because it celebrates God in human form, God ever with us.
You’ll find other news such as the start of Bubble Church, and our regular contributors too – Hive Helpers, still busy in the winter months; The Badshot Leader with its eclectic and fascinating mix of current events and history; the Church Dog and the Church Cat. There’s prayer, reflection, news and plenty more.
Read on to find out more.
Get lost in a forest of sparkling, colourful trees at the Christmas Tree Festival on December 5-7 at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea.
There will be 50 trees from individuals, charities, schools and other organisations, and not all the trees will be traditional. According to festival organiser Christine Brown, there will be a tree made entirely from copper pipe, and one constructed as a teepee so that children can go inside. Tice’s Meadow has promised a tree which “celebrates the beauty of nature and is crafted from materials gathered on site’”, while John Martin from the Badshot Lea Community Garden is planning one made of flowers. “I’ll have to construct it there on the day,” he said.
Everyone will be able to vote for their favourite tree by making a donation, and half of all the money given will go to Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice while the other half will go to support the work of church in the community.
Trees are not the only attractions that weekend. Father Christmas will be flying in for an hour at 10.30am on Saturday and children can tour the trees with him and bring their letters to be taken to the North Pole. His security will bring the Naughty and Nice lists and Father Christmas will review these with the children at the end of his visit.
On Saturday there will also be craft stalls and entertainment from Duke’s Uke’s, Jackstraw Morris Dancing, Brodie Mauluka, Cajun Boogaloo, Vivaldi Singers and the church choir. There will be café all weekend and a raffle with prizes including Christmas hampers.
The festival will close with a carol service at 6pm on Sunday at the end of which the public’s favourite tree will be announced and the raffle drawn.
The festival will run on Friday, 1-6pm; Saturday 10-6pm; Sunday 12-4pm.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas with lots going on in the parish, starting with our fabulous Christmas Tree Festival over the weekend of December 5-7 at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea; carols in the Hale Chapel Gardens (Hale cemetery) on December 5, followed by hot chocolate and mulled wine in St Mark’s Church; and a carol service at St George’s on Sunday, December 7 at 6pm.
The carol service will mark the end of the Christmas Tree Festival and the public’s favourite tree will be announced at the end of the service.
There will be a carol service at St John’s Church, Hale, on Sunday, December 14 at 6pm, and more outdoor carol singing on Monday, December 22, also at 6pm, at St George’s Church (inside if wet).
On Christmas Eve there will be crib services at both St George’s and St Mark’s, starting at 3pm with a crib service especially for toddlers at St George’s. This will be followed by an interactive crib service at 5.30pm. At St Mark’s there will be an all-age interactive crib service at 5pm on Christmas Eve.
There will be one Midnight Mass in the parish: at St John’s, starting at 11.30pm and on Christmas morning there will be a family communion at St George’s at 10am and St Mark’s at 11am. Both of these will tell the Christmas story using chocolates and sweets!
Please join us at any or all of these. Everyone is welcome.
It’s never to early to think about decorating your Christmas tree!
That’s the message from the parish as we are calling for entries for the Christmas Tree Festival which will run at St George’s over the weekend of December 5th-7th, in aid of Phyllis Tuckwell, Hospice Care.
Individuals, organisations, schools, charities, businesses, anyone is welcome to enter, and it is totally free to enter. Any size is welcome – large or tiny or anything in the middle, but please let us know dimensions to help our planning. It doesn’t have to be a traditional tree and the only restriction is that the base is no wider than 4ft. It can have lights – battery or mains, but not musical – and let us know when you reserve your space which type you will be using so we can organise a socket for you.
On the Saturday morning, both the Town Cryer and Father Christmas will visit to inspect the trees and encourage donations. There will also be live music, refreshments, Morris dancing and craft stalls.
It’s being organised by Christine Brown who said: “This should be a lovely community event for all and we are planning for 40 trees, but please sign up quickly as those spaces are going fast.
“There will be donation boxes next to every tree so that people can put money into the boxes of their favourite trees. There will be a prize for the tree with the highest amount donated and half of all the money raised from the donations will go to Phyllis Tuckwell to support the wonderful work they do for our community.”
The prize will be awarded at St George’s Christmas carol service on Sunday, December 7th at 6pm. Rev’d Lexi Russell, will not only present a trophy but also announce the amount raised during the festival.
Entry forms are available from Christine Brown, and should be returned by November 14th, though once all the spaces are filled entries will be closed.
You are invited to join us for a parish prayer meeting on the last Wednesday of the month at 7pm at St Mark’s, Upper Hale, starting tonight, September 24th.
Join us to pray for the community, the world, the parish, each other.
If you have any prayer requests, please email Rev’d Lexi or call her on 07792233477.
Come along to our new informal, contemporary service on the first and third Sunday of the month at 3pm at St George’s, Badshot Lea.
This will be a space where everyone is welcome to come and explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus, look at the Bible, pray and worship together. We can’t wait to see you there.
Contact Rev’d Lexi for more details. 07792233477.
We are holding a Vision Morning on October 4th, 10am-12pm, at St Mark’s Church, so that we can all have a say in the future of the parish and try to discern what God is calling us to in this new phase.
What would you like to see happening in the next years? New services? Youth work? More support for older people? Families? Tackling isolation? Evangelism? Prayer?
Have you a particular idea which you think might be part of the way God will work among us all and the communities we serve? How might we work together to allow God’s light to shine through us?
Even if you haven’t a single idea, come and listen and find out more.
All welcome. If you have any questions contact Lexi on
07792233477
St Mark’s will be buzzing on Saturday, September 20th, when we hold our Autumn Craft Market, starting at 10am and running until 2pm.
Come and browse the stalls for toys, handknits, cards, jewellery, needlecraft and all manner of gifts. There is live music and a café to meet you friends for a cuppa and eat homemade rolls and cakes.
What’s more, you can see the beautiful Kitty Milroy murals, painted in the early 20th century and restored in 2021. These have been recognised as nationally important in the development of mural art and an exceptional example of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
It’s free to enter and always a lovely atmosphere.
It’s time to bring your dogs, cats (maybe not), guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, geckos, pet spiders, snakes, stick insects and any other animals you have living at home to church for our annual pet service which, this year, will be at St Mark’s at 11am.
Pets are a wonderful blessing to many of us and can help our mental and physical health. So let’s give thanks for them in all their shapes and sizes and bring them for a blessing. If your pet is too large or too nervous to come to church, you can bring a picture of them instead. And if you don’t have a pet, why not bring a favourite soft toy instead? Or dress up as an animal? After all, as the hymn says: all God’s creatures got a place in the choir!
Rev’d Lexi Russell said: “Pets are indeed welcome in all forms, fluffy or scaly. Their humans will be tolerated.
“I believe that God loves all creatures. Pets are a really important part of people’s families and we want to celebrate everyone in our families.”
Pictured below is Lexi and her dog Bugsy.
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 