Spring is here and so is the March magazine, full of news and events across the parish.
This month we head into Lent and there is a chance to sign up for Lent groups which will be held in person and on Zoom. The theme is forgiveness and you can find out more about the subject in Lesley’s ministry letter.
Also prominent this month is the parish’s part in the first Farnham Literary Festival. St Mark’s is the only north Farnham venue and will be hosting several workshops, a rehearsed reading by the Farnham Theatre Association, and the awards ceremonies for both the Farnham Poetry Competition and the Farnham Short Story Competition.
Then there is news from local groups, plans for Easter, prayer, plans for a Barn Dance, words from our MP, a cat or two and much, much more.
This Wednesday (February 22) is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the beginning of the season which leads up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Ash Wednesday has its roots in the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting and many Christians mark the day by going to church and having a mark of ashes placed on their foreheads. Here in the parish there will be a service of ashing at St Mark’s at noon, and at St John’s at 7.30pm.
The ash is made by burning palm crosses, like the ones we use at the Palm Sunday services each year, and you can receive the mark with the words:
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.”
It is a solemn reminder of our calling to follow Christ and be his body here on earth.
As we head towards Lent we invite you to be tempted by some pancakes in our Pancakes and Temptation services on February 27 at St George’s, Badshot Lea, at 10am, and St Mark’s, Upper Hale, at 11am.
On the Sunday before Shrove Tuesday – the day before Lent – we like to make pancakes in church and think about the season ahead of us. It’s a sociable occasion but with a message. We celebrate with pancakes, but the Lenten season ahead of us is one when we reflect and prepare for Easter and the service will draw attention to this too.
This Lent we are looking at the theme of forgiveness. Further details are available here.
This year, during Lent, we are going to take a look at the subject of forgiveness and be asking some in-depth questions, such as:
What is forgiveness?
Do others need to repent before we forgive them?
Is resentment a bad thing?
Is forgiveness sometimes impossible?
The course will be run by the clergy, and Michelle Chapman will be running a family course.
We won’t be following a book; instead there will be a booklet with questions and a list of optional resources which you might or might not wish to engage with. It will be quite possible to take part in the course without looking at any of the other resources.
Please let Alan know if you would like to be part of a Lent Course this year, either online or in person, and what days or evenings are good for you. Also, please let him know if you would be willing to host a meeting.
St Mark’s, which was given Grade II listed status by English Heritage in December 2021, was entered for the awards following the restoration of the ‘Kitty Milroy murals’, painted by local artist Eleanor Catherine Wallace Milroy, known as Kitty, between 1911 and 1920.
The Surrey Heritage Awards were established by the Surrey Historic Buildings Trust to recognise ‘Best Practice’ in historic building conservation in Surrey, and the murals have played an important part in the conservation of St Mark’s, a Victorian church built by local people in the 1880s and still a vibrant part of community life. The murals are now recognised as being of both local and national importance, particularly as examples of the development of mural art and the recognition of women’s painting in the 20th century.
Making the announcement, Surrey Historic Buildings Trust described St Mark’s as: “A late-Victorian church … noted for its stunning wall murals painted by local artist Kitty Milroy, a graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art. These murals had deteriorated and faded after a century’s accumulation of dirt, so the local community rallied round to raise the funds for a major project to clean, repair and restore the murals to their former glory.”
Andy Smith, Director of Surrey Historic Buildings Trust, added: “The restoration of Kitty Milroy’s amazing murals at St Mark’s has been one of the most interesting projects the Surrey Historic Buildings Trust has been involved with in recent years, and I was delighted to hear that the project had been shortlisted for the Surrey Heritage Awards 2022. It was also wonderful to learn just a few weeks ago that the church had been given Grade II listed status. Hopefully this will generate greater interest in Kitty Milroy’s work, and in early-twentieth-century artwork of this kind.
“We are fortunate here in Surrey to have a number of churches with beautiful and intriguing wall paintings, including rare survivals from the medieval period, but the Milroy murals, dating from the period just before the First World War, are especially striking and thought-provoking. St Mark’s Church is very fortunate to have these extraordinary paintings and I hope more people will visit the church to view them.”
The murals were restored in 2021 by wall painting conservationists Stephen Rickerby and Lisa Shekede who described them as “stunning” and called Kitty a “major, but unrecognised, artist”.
Lesley Crawley said: “We are utterly delighted that St Mark’s has been shortlisted for an award. It is testament to the love and care that has been poured into the church over many years – from when it was built by the villagers in the 1880s; through the installation of the Edwardian organ, affectionately known as Emily; and the painting of the beautiful Kitty Milroy murals in the early 20th century; and right through to the present day with the restoration of those murals.
“There is not just local history here but a real sense of a warm community building, cherished and used by the village where it has stood for almost 140 years, and where people can come to seek God and find welcome.”
A team of judges will visit St Mark’s on March 3 and the results will be announced at an awards ceremony to be held on March 30 at Brooklands Museum in Weybridge.
St Mark’s is open on Sundays at 11am and Wednesdays at 12pm for services. It is also open on the third Saturday of the month for a craft market, 10am-2pm. The next one is February 19.
Kris Lawrence reflects on the meaning of Christingle during a pandemic.
People often ask me why we have a Christingle service now; most people celebrate Christingle as part of the Christmas season. But to me this is the perfect time of year to celebrate.
Christmas is always such a busy time and I worry that the symbolism can be lost in the busyness and the Christingle be reduced to it’s raw elements of orange, ribbon and sweets. But the Christingle means so much more than that. At the end of January/start of February we can take time to be more reflective and ponder the symbolism further – so Candlemas will always be to me the right time to celebrate the Christingle.
And this year at St George’s on January 30, we considered the Christingle in the light of the pandemic.
We considered how lockdowns had an amazing effect on the environment; how the world (represented by the orange) seemed to be given a chance to take a deep breath and restore itself a little. We considered what parts of the natural world we would want to protect from harm and what we could do to help God’s wonderfully creative world.
We thought about how, during lockdown, God’s love (represented by the red ribbon) and the companionship of friends and relations was cherished and appreciate more than ever. We considered those that might need our love and companionship; those that we may have lost contact with over the past couple of years; those that needed God’s loving touch.
We thought about how, during lockdown, a nature of generosity and sharing of our God given gifts (represented by the fruits and sweets) was embraced. We considered how sharing banks and food banks being supported more than ever to help people through the dark days. And we considered what gifts we have that we can use to do God’s work on earth.
We considered how, during lockdown, the dark days so many have suffered, could be lightened by the light of Christ (represented by the candle) and how we are called to share that light in the world (and the tin foil of course represents us reflecting the light of Christ).
We were encouraged not to eat our Christingle before the service had ended, but to take it home, relight the candle and say a prayer.
Lord Jesus, Light and hope of the World, as we think about the meaning of Christingle and about your great love for us help us to take your light out into the world and to share your love and hope with others, especially those who need it most. Amen.
St Mark’s is one of the venues in the inaugural Farnham Literary Festival which takes place between March 5 and 13, and there is lots to enjoy here.
We kick off on Saturday, March 5, at 3-5pm with a Build a World Workshop, run by fantasy writer Paul Eggleton which offers the chance to create your own fantasy world and populate it with characters in a creative writing workshop focusing on the fantasy genre. This will be available virtually by Zoom link as well. There will be a charge of £5 to include afternoon tea. Please email p.eggleton@nhm.ac.uk for details.
On the morning of Tuesday, March 8, we will be running a Writing Memories workshop in conjunction with Right at Home home care agency. This will be by invitation only but to find out more, email Stella Wiseman.
We have two events at the church on Thursday, March 10. From 2-4pm there will be an Introduction to crime novel writing workshopwith crime writer Joy Kluver, author of the Detective Bernadette Noel books, the latest of which Left for Dead has just come out. Joy will teach us how to create the heroes and villains of crime fiction. The cost is just £5 and will include afternoon tea. Please contact Stella Wiseman for further details and to book.
Then at 7.30pm on March 10, Farnham Theatre Association will be at St Mark’s with A Tale of Two Theatres, a rehearsed reading by professional actors Abigail McKern, Chris Reeks, David Wylde and guests based on a book compiled by Anne Cooper of memories by those who knew Farnham’s Castle and Redgrave Theatres. The cost will be £5 and are available here or on the door. Refreshments will be served.
On Saturday, March 12, at 5.30pm we have the awards ceremony for our poetry competitionA Poem for Farnham. Poet Ellora Sutton (pictured left), judge of the adult competition, will be there to give a reading and present prizes. If you haven’t sent your poem in yet, it’s not too late to do so as we have just extended the closing date to Monday, February 28. It’s free to enter and you could win £25. For further details click here.
On Sunday, March 13, at 2.30pm, there will be the awards ceremony for the Farnham Fiction Award.
There is lots going on across Farnham in the Literary Festival and to find out more visit the festival website.
You’ve now got until February 28 to write A Poem for Farnham and enter it into our poetry competition which is forming part of the inaugural Farnham Literary Festival.
Take part in the competition and you could win £25 and be invited to our poetry evening on Saturday, March 12 at St Mark’s Church.
There is a children’s competition, open to under-16s, and an adult one, and all you have to do is write a poem about Farnham – what it means to you, what you like or dislike, what the town feels like to you, its history, its people… anything you want to write which means Farnham to you. The winner in each category will be awarded £25 and two runners-up in each category will be awarded £10 each.
Then send it in to us to reach us by 5pm on Monday, February 28. Send your entries by email to poetry@badshotleaandhale.org or by post to Poetry Competition, St Mark’s Church and Community Centre, Alma Lane, Farnham, GU9 0LT.
There is no word limit, but entries should be typed, double-spaced.
The children’s poetry competition is being judged by poet Coral Rumble and the adult one by poet Ellora Sutton.
Coral Rumble is an award-winning poet specialising in writing and performing for children. She has had four poetry collections published, with Things that Should be in a Poem out soon. Her verse novel Little Light was published last year and she has also written picture books and for children’s TV. You can find her at www.coralrumble.co.uk and she tweets @RumbleCoral.
Ellora Sutton, she/her, is a queer poet, museum professional, and critic. Her work has been published in the Poetry Review, Interpreter’s House, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, fourteen poems and Poetry News, amongst others. She reviews poetry for Mslexia. She tweets @ellora_sutton, or you can find her at ellorasutton.com.
To find out more about the Farnham Literary Festival at St Mark’s click here, and to find out more about events at other places, click here.
Serving the Villages North of Farnham: Badshot Lea, Hale, Heath End & Weybourne
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 