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Easter Craft Market + egg hunt!

Come to our Easter Craft Market at St Mark’s, Alma Lane, GU9 0LT, this Saturday (April 16) between 10am and 2pm.

As well as some of the familiar favourites – like Orange Tree Glass‘s fabulous fused glass creations, and Brazilian truffles from Kay’s Treats – we have newcomers Anne Gurney with beautiful papercraft and new knitting from Veronica Cox. Ridgeway School has a stall and we also have cards, jewellery, soap, crochet work, candles and lots and lots of gifts.

What’s more, we are having an Easter egg hunt. Find the eggs on some – but not all – of the stalls, fill in your sheet and claim your prize!

All this, plus live music, refreshments, a happy atmosphere and the Kitty Milroy murals!

Holy Week and Easter

Easter is being celebrated in the Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale in north Farnham by a series of services, reflections, a craft market, and an open-air Easter Experience and not just one but four Easter Egg hunts.

On Monday to Wednesday this week there will be meditations at St John’s, Hale, at 7.30pm.

On Maundy Thursday, April 14, there will be Holy Communion, the Stripping of the Altar, and a vigil at both St George’s Church, Badshot Lea, and St John’s Church, Hale, at 7.30pm, with foot-washing at St John’s as well.

On Good Friday, April 15, there will be a Good Friday liturgy at St John’s, at 9.30am, and a service at St Mark’s, at 11am. At 2pm at St George’s, there will be Good Friday devotions.

On Easter Sunday, April 17, we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ at St John’s, at 9.30am; then at St George’s at 10am; and at St Mark’s, Upper Hale, at 11am, and each service will be followed by an Easter Egg hunt.

On Easter Saturday, April 16, there will be an Easter Craft Market with an Easter Egg hunt for children, at St Mark’s Church, Upper Hale, from 10am-2pm. There will be lots of stalls selling everything from knitwear to truffles, jewellery to soaps, and a trail to find Easter eggs.

And don’t forget the Easter Experience in the churchyard at St John’s, Hale, a series of interactive stations which trace the story of the last week of Jesus’ life all the way to his death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Easter Experience is available at all hours of day and night until April 18.

Your April Magazine is here

Easter is around the corner, that glorious season of hope and light as we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, and this month’s magazine is full of Easter promise.

Scroll through the pages and you will find details of our Holy Week services and Easter itself, along with our Easter Experience in the churchyard at St John’s.

There is plenty more inside the magazine too. Scroll through to read a reflection from our LLM Craig on suffering; then read news from John Innes from Wiltshire; make a note for your diary for Campfire – our storytelling event – on 8th and the Barn Dance on 9th. There is a confirmation in the Cathedral on Easter Saturday, just after our Craft Market, and lots more.

Enjoy your magazine and may you have a blessed Easter.

Gather around the Campfire

What’s your story?


We all have a story to tell, but it’s not always easy to talk about yourself. Sharing our stories can help us reconnect with each other in an increasingly fractured world.

That’s why Campfire is coming to north Farnham. Campfire is a unique, magical event which celebrates the untold stories of people who make up a community.

We’re looking for people to tell true stories at the event, and to come to workshop beforehand so that they’re well-equipped to contribute. No story is too small! From mundane moments to miraculous misadventures, we want to hear it all.

All you need to do is show up to our free, fun workshop. You might come with an idea of the story you could tell, but it’s totally okay if you turn up with nothing. We’ll help you find and shape your story in a warm, supportive environment. Why not come to the workshop and see what it’s all about? You’ve got nothing to lose!

The workshop will take place at St Mark’s Church on 1st April, from 7.30 to 9.30pm. The campfire event will take place in the church on 8th April at 7.30pm.

This is what others have said:

I didn’t think I had any good stories to tell, but Molly gives you interesting prompts and helps you create a structure around something from your life you didn’t think was story-worthy.

It makes you realise how interesting other people are!

Exceeded my expectations!

It will be hosted by musician Dominic Conway and poet and author Molly Naylor, with live music and cocoa. Here they are explaining more:

Molly is a poet, playwright and creative writing tutor. She has run True Stories Live, a sell-out event in Norwich where local people get up on stage tell stories, for the past five years.

Dominic is the award-winning musical director of Little Bulb Theatre who recently toured village halls with the wildly successful Mountain Music.

Interested? Email news@badshotleaandhale.org or call 07842761919.

An Easter Experience

Follow the story of Holy Week and Easter in our outdoor Easter Experience in St John’s Churchyard, from April 4-18. You will follow stations which will take you from Gethsemane to the Garden Tomb, via the Courtyard and Golgotha, and discover the story behind the betrayal, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Easter Experience will be open at all times and there will be signs explaining what to do.

What a festival!

Three workshops, two awards ceremonies, a theatrical evening and a lot of good poetry – it all added up to a major contribution by the parish to the inaugural Farnham Literary Festival (March 5-13).

St Mark’s Church was the only north Farnham venue taking part in the festival and not only did we host events, we ran the Farnham Poetry Competition and filled the church with poets young and old with fresh voices and their own take on Farnham.

During the week there was a workshop to create your own fantasy world; a writing memories workshop (with some rather saucy poetry!) run by Right at Home care agency and the church; a crime writing workshop with Joy Kluver, author of the Detective Bernadette Noel series; a rehearsed reading by the Farnham Theatre Association of A Tale of Two Theatres (the story of the Castle and Redgrave Theatres); the awards ceremony of the Farnham Fiction Award, and the awards ceremony of the Poetry Competition.

The church buzzed all week with people of diverse ages and backgrounds who leapt at the chance to express themselves creatively. There is enormous creativity here in this community and we are hugely grateful to everyone who took part, including the poetry judges, Coral Rumble who judged the under-16s category, and Ellora Sutton who judged the adult one.

We had around 80 entries to the poetry competition and the judges found it hard to choose between them. In the end their choices were:

Under-16:
First place:
Farnham by Katie Parratt.
Runners-up:
Under a Tree by Nigarish Nabeel Nasir.
Farnham  by Louis West.
Shortlisted:
A day at Gostrey Meadow by Minha Nabeel Nasir.
Farnham attraction by Harrison West.
Meadow by Alina Liepsch.
There is a place I know by Maria Benyon.
Welcome to Farnham by Mimi Farrell.
Why Farnham makes me smile by Ellie Darlow.

Adults:
First place:
The First One that’s Second by Elmaz Ekrem.
Runners-up:
Farnham Park 2021 by Rosemary Wisbey.
Local Character by Andy Morse.
Shortlisted:
Farnham Swimming Baths by Elaine Fell.
Farnham Friendship by Chandra McGowan.
Swimming in April’s Cold by Chris Hunter.
embedded in wood and stone by Kate Kennington Steer.

Kate Kennington Steer is a participant in Creative Response, an arts-related organisation run by professional practising artists who share their practice with vulnerable people, and members of Creative Response were also there on the poetry evening, reading from and selling their new book of poems Where Seeds Are Planted Poems Grow.

We are currently collecting in recordings of the winning poems and they will be published here shortly.

Here are a few images from the week:

Winner of the adult poetry award Elmaz Ekrem (left) with judge Ellora Sutton.
Building fantasy worlds in the Build a World Workshop. Yes, even the Mayor was busy doing so!
David Wylde and Chris Reeks in A Tale of Two Theatres.
Coral Rumble, the judge of the under-16s poetry competition reads some of her own poetry.
Neil Macdonald speaks at the writing awards, along with judge Gary Couzens.
Writing crime with Joy Kluver.

Mothering Sunday

Next Sunday, March 27, is Mothering Sunday and everyone is welcome at any of our services – St John’s, 9.30am; St George’s, 10am; St Mark’s, 11am.

We will be celebrating our mothers and/or others who take or have taken care of us over the years. There will be refreshments and posies for all. Contact us if you would like more details.

If you find Mothering Sunday difficult, there is a peaceful reflection called Loving Kindness at St Mark’s at 9.30am. Further details here.

Loving Kindness – for when Mother’s Day is Complicated

Do you find Mothering Sunday tricky?

Mothering Sunday can be complicated for so many different reasons: perhaps you have lost your own mother, perhaps the relationship is broken, perhaps you feel you are hopeless at being a mother – there may be a hundred more reasons why Mothering Sunday is tricky.

Why not take some time and space to reflect, to sit quietly and know that God sees you as an individual, not “just a mother” or “just a child of a mother”.

On Sunday, March 27, at 9.30am at St Mark’s, Pamela Marsham will be leading a short, mindfulness based session to help you unwind and relax into God’s love for each and every one of us.

Craft Market

2023: March 18, June 17, September 16 and November 18

Come to our regular Craft Market at St Mark’s. We now run this four times a year and the dates are above.

We invite local crafters to take part and we have a wide range of creative people there selling a huge array of gifts for yourself and others. There are jumpers, teddy bears, soaps and soap dishes, candles, cards, earrings, necklaces, hats and gloves, glass gifts, knitwear, pictures, pottery, sweets, notebooks, coasters, mugs to go on the coasters… and much more, with new stalls added regularly, and all of it sold to a background of live music and refreshments in the adjoining room.

If you would like to hire a stall, click here for a form, or call 07842761919 or email craft@badshotleaandhale.org

Come and join us as a shopper or a seller, or just to enjoy the buzz and friendly atmosphere.

Ukraine

We continue to be deeply shocked and horrified by the news coming out of Ukraine following the invasion by Russia.

It can be hard to know what to do and how to pray. There are suggested prayers here and some resources for children and schools.

Many people want to give clothes and other vital items to help refugees. There is a collection by Farnham Help for Refugees at St George’s Church between 2.30 and 6.30pm on Friday but please note that they are collecting for all refugees, not just Ukraine.

If you want to give specifically to help Ukrainian refugees, there are collection points in Farnham between now and Wednesday and the details are in the picture below:

Farnham Help for Refugees are asking for clothing, toiletries, technology (phones, tablets etc) and items such as sleeping bags and tents. See below for further details.



Trusted organisations already operating in Ukraine and among the refugees are:

  1. UNHCR –https://www.unrefugees.org.uk/take-action/how-to-help-ukraine/
  2. UNICEF emergency appeal  – https://www.unicef.org.uk/donate/donate-now-to-protect-children-in-ukraine/
  3. British Red Cross – Ukranian Crisis Appeal –donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-crisis-appeal