The next Interfaith Women’s Group will take place at St Mark’s Church on Saturday, May 20th, 2.30-4pm when we will be talking about miracles. How does our faith influence our view of miracles, what do we mean by them, do they happen now?
The group is a joint venture between the parish and Lajna Ima’illah, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Association and usually takes place on the fourth Saturday of each month at St Mark’s but is earlier this month because of the forthcoming half-term.
The group discusses topics that most concern us today, such as social media, gender-based violence, inclusion, education, equality, bringing up children and many more. There is also plenty of tea and cake!
It’s Christian Aid Week next week and we are holding a concert to raise money for this vital charity on Friday, May 26th at 7.30pm at St George’s.
There will be music from soloists and groups, including Saxooma saxophone quartet, choirs, a singalong, dancing, a raffle, drinks and nibbles. Tickets are £5 (children free) on the door.
This year, Christian Aid Week is focusing on Malawi where food, fuel, fertiliser and school fees have doubled in price in the last 12 months, and hard-working farmers are seeing their harvests fail as the climate crisis brings increasingly erratic weather. The impact of the recent Cyclone Freddy in Malawi has been devastating. Floods have washed away crops, over 500,000 people have been displaced and hundreds have lost their lives.
Please support Christian Aid at this concert and via their online appeal here.
Write a poem with your thoughts on the Coronation!
We love a bit of poetry in the Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale, so we are asking you to send in some poems about the Coronation and we can put them up in our churches and on the website.
Email them to Poetry@badshotleaandhale.org or send them to Stella Wiseman, Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale, St Mark’s Church and Community Centre, Alma Lane, Farnham GU9 0LT.
A new notice outside St John’s Church, Hale, reveals that there are Commonwealth War Graves in the churchyard.
There are six of these graves in the churchyard and information about most of them can be found on the Find A Grave website
Lieutenant Colonel Lindsay Cunliff Owen is buried with his wife Eglantyne Mary Owen, under the large magnolia tree near the path. He was born in India in 1887 and died in 1941. You can see more here.
Private JE Hammond is buried here following his death in 1919. He came from London and was married to Alice Mary Hammond, of ‘Bideford’, Bullers Road, Weybourne. His grave can be found six down from the back fence and three to the right of the bench. You can find out more here.
One row back and slightly to the left of Private Hammond is Rifleman Sydney Harry Collyer. He died in 1919 and was the son of Harry and Alice Gray Collyer, of Myrtle Villa, Junction Road, Farnham. You can find more here.
Driver William Fenwick Moore is buried eight graves closer to the church than Private Hammond. He died in 1942 at the age of 19, but we do not currently have any more information on him, apart from a picture of his grave here.
Warrant Officer Class II (C.S.M.) William Leslie Webb, is one row up and to the right of Moore. There is no information on Find A Grave but a photo of his grave is posted below.
There is also a grave to Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Duncan Caddell who died in 1942 at the age of 60. He was born in Dundalk and served in World War One and returned to service in World War Two, when he was Commanding Officer at the Military Hospital, Chatham, until he had to retire on the grounds of ill health. He played Rugby for Ireland and was awarded the Military Cross. There is further information here.
On the Sunday of the Coronation weekend, we will be celebrating at all the churches on May 7th.
The service at St John’s will be at 9.30am, followed by cake and Prosecco; the service at St George’s will be at 10am, followed by a cream tea; and the service at St Mark’s will be at 11am, followed by a bring-and-share lunch.
At 4pm on Sunday 7th, our regular, monthly Family Service will take place at St John’s with more Coronation celebrations, along with sandwiches and cake!
All are welcome at all or any of our services.
You can now sign up to receive daily Coronation reflections via email here.
Prayers will be available across the Diocese social media channels – feel free to share your prayers and thoughts using the hashtag #CoronationPrayers until Coronation Day on May 6th.
Spring is here and even the hint of summer, with blossom, fresh green leaves, meadow flowers and … a Coronation! We have special Communion services on the day following the Coronation, each followed by a celebration involving a toast to the new king. We also have our monthly family service at St John’s on May 7th, including a Coronation celebration, sandwiches and cake.
There is a lot going on this month in the parish and the magazine is full of events, thoughts, a report on our new Parish Needs Process, a reminder about the coming summer fete, and issue two of the new Badshot Leader, produced by the Badshot Lea Community Association.
Read and enjoy, check out the advertisers – shopping locally is good for not just the local community but for the environment too – and tell your friends about what is going on here in Badshot Lea and Hale.
It’s St Mark’s Day on April 25th, and, never ones to need an excuse for a party, we are celebrating on the Sunday before, April 23rd, at our 11am service at St Mark’s Church, Upper Hale.
Come along and find out about St Mark, then celebrate with cake, balloons and a lot of friendly chat. It’s very informal and all ages are welcome.
St George’s Day is on Sunday, April 23, and you are invited to celebrate England’s patron saint at services at St John’s, Hale, at 9.30am, and St George’s, Badshot Lea, at 10am. TS Swiftsure, Farnham Sea Cadets, will take part in the service at St George’s.
St George has been venerated as a saint in England since the 9th century CE though he was actually born in the 3rd century CE in Cappadocia (modern day Turkey), and was probably an officer in the Roman army. He was a Christian and it seems he was killed in the early 4th century, maybe on April 23, because he wouldn’t worship pagan gods.
St George is meant to have killed an evil dragon but the story about this actually originates several centuries after his death. Nevertheless the story stuck and the image of St George defeating the dragon appears on the George Cross, an award created in 1940 by King George VI to reward acts of great courage in times of danger.
This doesn’t stop the friendly St George’s dragon coming to church however.
Serving the Villages North of Farnham: Badshot Lea, Hale, Heath End & Weybourne
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 