Your February magazine is here, full of news and what’s on this month.
You can download it here:
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Join our contemplative prayer group
There is a contemplative prayer group meeting in the parish every Wednesday at St Mark’s Church from 3-4pm.
Contemplative/centering prayer is a silent form of prayer which can take place alone or in a group. The person or people praying remain silent and usually repeat in the mind a word or phrase such as ‘Maranatha’, an Aramaic word which means ‘our Lord, come’, or ‘our Lord has come’, depending on where the emphasis is placed. Some people prefer to use an image rather than a word.
The idea is that the word or image centres the mind and encourages it not to wander or flit from thought to thought, as human minds usually do, but instead just to be as we are in front of God. We don’t ask anything of God, we simply are there.
On Wednesday afternoons a group of us sit together in St Mark’s and spend 20 minutes in this form of silent prayer. We then drink tea, eat biscuits and chat.
It is a time of peace and stillness and highly recommended in this furiously busy world.
Anyone is welcome to join us.
A Valentine’s Day Barn Dance
Did you know there is a Valentine’s Waltz? It’s a bit staid compared with what we have in store for you this February 14th – none other than a barn dance!
The Valentine’s Day Barn Dance will take place at St George’s, Badshot Lea, on Friday, February 14th, starting at 7pm. Kris Lawrence will be the caller and take us all through our paces as we dance to the music of Dragon Scales. Don’t worry – Kris is an expert caller and always explains clearly what we have to do.
If you don’t want to dance, that is OK too. Just enjoy the atmosphere, the music and the sight of everyone else making fools of themselves, er, dancing perfectly!
Entry to the barn dance is free, though donations are appreciated, and there will be a raffle. Bring your own snacks and drinks.
The St John’s tower: another fundraising push
Like a beloved grandmother St John’s Church in Hale is beautiful, much-loved but showing her age. In fact, she’s just turned 180 so it isn’t surprising.
It’s her tower which is suffering the most and is in greatest need of repair and we are determined to do this, so ensuring that this historic centre of worship can stay open for many more years to come, and that the bell can once more ring to call people in Hale to services. (At the moment the bell is silent as vibrations from ringing it risk more damage to the tower).
Unfortunately, but inevitably, this will cost money – at least £50,000. We are applying for grants for this but also need to raise part of the money ourselves. We’ve already had some generous donations and thank you to everyone who has given money.
Visit our GoFundMe page
We’ve now opened a new fundraising page, this time with GoFundMe and invite everyone to give something – even a few pounds will make a difference. To do so click here.
Thank you again for your support.
The Farnham Poetry Competition is back!
Calling all poets – beginners, experts and those who dabble from time to time. Get writing because the Farnham Poetry Competition is back again.
The competition, now in its fifth year (we started with a lockdown poetry competition in 2020), is run by the parish as part of the Farnham Literary Festival which takes place from March 6-16.
The 2025 poetry competition has the theme of Unity/Being Together and entrants are asked to write a poem about what unites people or what they wish would unite people, or what it means to be together.
There are four age categories this year: up to age seven, eights to 11s, 12s to16s, and over 16s. Poems should be sent to poetry@badshotleaandhale.org or to St Mark’s Church and Community Centre, Alma Lane, Farnham, GU9 0LT to arrive by 5pm on Monday, February 24. Please include your name separately from your entry and, if entering the 16 and younger categories, add your age to the bottom of your poem.
The children’s poetry competition is being judged by popular children’s poet and author Coral Rumble and the adult one by poet Linda Daruvala.
The competition is free to enter and there will be prizes for the first prize-winners and runners-up in all the categories. The winners will be announced at the poetry final evening on Saturday, March 15, at St Mark’s Church, Upper Hale, at 5pm, when there will also be an open mic for anyone to share their poetry, and the two judges will also perform their work.
Entries should include name, contact details and age if entering the 16 and under categories, but the name should not be written on the actual poem. There will be winners and runners-up in all categories and these will be announced at the awards ceremony and open mic on March 15.
Christmas in the parish
As we move towards Christmas we celebrate with carols sung both in church and outside, and on Christmas Eve we hold crib services at all three churches (two crib services at St George’s!) and then Midnight Mass beginning at 11.30pm in St George’s and St John’s.
We then celebrate the wonderful news of the incarnation of God on Christmas morning in all three churches.
Here are the special services in December:
Carols
Sunday, December 8th, 6pm at St John’s.
Sunday, December 15th, 6pm at St George’s.
Friday, December 20th, 6pm at Hale Chapels (cemetery, Alma Lane), followed by refreshments at St Mark’s.
Monday, December 23rd, 6pm around the tree at St George’s.
Crib Services
All Tuesday, December 24th. Come dressed as your favourite Nativity character.
3pm: St John’s.
3pm: St George’s especially for toddlers.
5pm: St Mark’s.
5.30pm: St George’s.
Midnight Mass
Tuesday, December 24th, 11.30pm, at St John’s and St George’s.
Christmas morning
9.30am, St John’s.
10am, St George’s.
11am, St Mark’s.
Your February Magazine is here
Christmas is probably a distant memory for most of us, but Christmastide actually ends on February 2, which is known as Candlemas and is 40 days after Christmas Day. It’s also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, when the baby Jesus was presented in the Temple. Traditionally that is the last date for having Christingle services which is why you will find the two parish ones advertised in this month’s magazine.
Alongside this in the magazine is an update on the vacancy, details on fundraising for the tower at St John’s,information on our poetry competition (part of the Farnham Literary Festival), news, events, prayer and, of course, our dedicated advertisers who keep us going. Please do consider using their services.
To download your magazine, click on the button above.
Advent: a time of hope and longing
Christmas is coming! But before then Advent
We are just about to enter Advent, a time of awaiting the coming of God in human form, a time of longing for something better, the promise of a new start.
This is often forgotten in the rush towards Christmas, in the frantic shopping and worrying about how we are going to afford the presents we feel our families deserve, or the feast we believe we should spread on our tables. We are caught up, too, in the excitement of sparkling lights, carols sung, mulled wine and mince pies consumed, and the annual game of Whammagedon.
If that is how you feel and you don’t like it, pause for a moment, switch off the radio (you may be about to hear Wham’s Last Christmas in any case, especially if you click on the link I’ve just added!) and reflect on Advent.
Advent is the beginning of the Church’s year and is a time of preparing for the coming of Christ. It starts four Sundays before Christmas which, this year, is December 1 and, as it takes place at the darkest time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, reminds us of the need for light. Each Sunday in many churches a different candle is lit, with varying understandings of what each one represents, depending on tradition (anything from the Patriarchs to hope to prophecy) but all pointing to one thing, the coming of Christ, the manifestation of God’s extraordinary, redeeming, overwhelming love.
It also points to the margins of our society, because the Gospels tell of God coming into the world in human form as a refugee, a member of an oppressed culture, not someone most of us would welcome or worship. God is there at the margins as well as in the respectable places of the world. And God holds out hope and love to all.
Christmas-themed Quiz
Please join us for a Christmas-themed quiz on Saturday, November 23rd, at 7pm at St George’s, Badshot Lea.
It’s suitable for all ages and will be a great family event with fun questions and lots of opportunity to socialise.
Free entry, but donations towards parish funds gratefully received. BYO snacks & drinks.
St Mark’s is all lit up for the Farnham Lantern Festival
On Thursday evening (All Hallows Eve, aka Hallowe’en) we are taking part in the Farnham Lantern Festival which Farnham Townn Council is putting on to mark the end of Farnham Craft Month. We’ve been making lanterns but we weren’t expecting anything as amazing as this one made by Jacqui Searle. St Mark’s Church as you have never seen it before.
The Lantern Festival will begin with music, food and a bar in Gostrey Meadow from 5pm. Anyone with a lantern is asked to be there by 6pm and the procession will start at 6.30pm and go to St Andrew’s Church, where the lanterns will be displayed as a large-scale communal craft endeavour.
Hope to see you there!
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 