We are looking to recruit a part time administrator, with some flexibility over hours. Attached below is a Role Description.
If you would like to know more about this, please contact Alan Crawley, 01252 820537 revd.alan@badshotleaandhale.org.
If you wish to apply, please send a CV to Alan with a covering letter explaining how you think you meet the requirements by Wednesday 15th May 2019.
The parish fete (at St George’s, Badshot Lea), will welcome a special guest on the afternoon of Saturday, June 15, when gardening writer and broadcaster John Negus joins the plant stall to answer any gardening questions that visitors may have.
John has been a gardening journalist for some 60 years. He answers questions for Amateur Gardening magazine, gives talks and lectures, and broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio Surrey, again answering listeners’ queries on plants and gardens.
Answering these questions is, he says “a great privilege and an exciting challenge” and enables him to combine his passion for plants with his love of meeting people and making them happy.
“Gardeners are all so different,” he says, which means he has to be ready to answer all sorts of different questions. “The great thing is that no matter what question anyone asks there is always an answer. The fun thing is finding out the answer they approve of!” By this he means that there is always more than one way of dealing with a gardening question and he can tailor his answers to suit an individual situation.
There are always general questions to answer: on pests and diseases; on how to cope with dry summers – “the challenge is when to start and when to stop watering” – what plants do well in what areas; how to grow good vegetables – “improve the soil – more humus please!” – and so on, but he does love a challenge. “Bring mystery plants to the fete!” he commands. “It adds a frisson of excitement!”
John puts his own advice to good use and has not just his own beautiful garden in south Farnham, but also helps his partner Maureen with hers, and has recently taken up caring for the vicarage garden in Wrecclesham. He gains inspiration from other gardens and advises everyone to “go and see a garden that is open to the public and take photos of plants you like if you are looking for ideas. I do that. And I love to see an interesting garden with neat lawns and something arresting.”
So, to gain inspiration and have your own questions answered, go along to the parish fete at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea, on June 15 from noon onwards. As well as advice from John Negus – and lots of plants to buy of course – there will be stalls; games of skill and chance; a bouncy castle; maypole dancing by children from Badshot Lea Infant School; the Sea Cadets with their band; the Aldershot Karate Club demonstrating their moves; volunteers from Badshot Lea Bloomers and Tice’s Meadow Nature Reserve; a barbecue; a bar; cream teas; cakes; an auction; a raffle with a first prize of £100, and much more.
The 175th anniversary celebrations at St John’s Church, Hale, kick off on May 18 and 19 with a flower festival.
Local organisations, artists, schools, churches, charities and other faith groups are all planning their entries to the festival that weekend. Among those preparing displays are the three churches which make up the parish; the Hale Gardening Club; the local Mothers’ Union; the Opportunities Project; the Hale Women’s Institute; the Darby and Joan Club, Farnham Baha’is, Petal & Stem florists, Crown Chain nursery and Rainbow Church (welcoming all who are LGBTI+).
There will be art and craft too and All Hallows School art club are presenting a collage, Badshot Lea Infant School will be displaying floral photography, and there will be contributions from local artists Susie Lidstone, Judith Needham, Penny Fleet and former Surrey Artist of the year Denise Jaques who will bring garden mosaics. Local milliners Mind your Bonce will be providing an elegant touch with hats and flowers.
Among the charities taking part will be Farnham Assist and Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care who will be bringing samples of planting done in the hospice’s Social and Therapeutic Horticulture sessions. Amnesty International will be bringing a display reminding visitors of the plight of political prisoners across the world.
Lesley Crawley said: “St John’s was consecrated in November 1844 and since then has been a much-loved focal point in the village of Hale. We would like everyone to celebrate with us this year, so we are holding a series of events to which all are welcome. One of the first of these is the flower festival in May where, for two days, the church will be overflowing with colourful floral displays and art, and there will be live music and refreshments, including Pimm’s.
“St John’s is everyone’s church and as well as celebrating our anniversary, we are looking forward to the future. We know that our church could be used to serve the community better and we want to know what people would like from us as we look forward to the next stage and discover what God has in store for us all. We have therefore launched a survey for residents and local organisations to complete. You can find it on our website (www.badshotleaandhale.org) or in the church.”
The survey is also available at https://goo.gl/XQQ8qT.
The flower festival will take place from 10am-4pm on Saturday, May 18, and from noon-4pm on Sunday, May 19. Entry is £1 and everyone is welcome!
St George’s and St Mark’s Churches are both holding celebrations this Sunday (April 28) in honour of the saints they are named after.
April 23 was St George’s Day and April 25 was St Mark’s Day so both churches are holding their patronal festivals that day.
At St Mark’s at 11am, the congregation will learn about the journey that St Mark made from being a young follower of Jesus (perhaps the young man who runs away naked at the end of the Gospel of Mark) to a mature disciple who, tradition has it, founded the church in Alexandria, Egypt, but with all too human problems on the way. After the service there will be cake in celebration of St Mark’s Day.
At St George’s there will be two services which remember England’s patron saint (who was probably born in what is now Turkey). The 10am service will be augmented by a parade by Farnham, Fleet & Aldershot Sea Cadets who meet just up the road from the church. As well as parading they will read the New Testament lesson. The celebrations will then continue at St George’s with Worship for All at 11.30am.
Come and join us at either church on Sunday.
A Hale woman who was used as a model for one of the murals in St Mark’s Church has found her final resting place back in the village.
Joyce Helen Taman, née Eglington, whose ashes were interred in Hale Cemetery on April 5, was born in 1926, and was the model for the figure of Moon when one part of the murals was renovated and repainted in 1946.
Joyce was the youngest of three children and grew up in Vicarage Lane in Hale. She was educated at Hale School where she excelled at maths, and on leaving at the age of 14 was employed in the accounts department at Kinghams, a grocery distribution warehouse in Farnham’s West Street. She married Alexander Mitchell, a member of the military police based at the prisoner-of-war camp in Crookham village whom she met at a dance.
It is not clear how she was chosen to be the model for Moon, but she was always very proud of what she jokingly called her ‘muriel’. By the 1940s, some of the murals which had been painted by Kitty Milroy between 1911 and 1920 required renovation. A fundraising appeal was launched after Easter 1946 and among the fundraisers was the well-known soprano Joan Coxon who put on a concert which raised more than £13, around £500 in today’s money.
The paintings which needed restoring were to the left of the altar where damp had affected them and local painter Evelyn Caesar carried out the restoration, choosing Joyce to sit for Moon. Next to Moon is ‘Clouds’, a male figure, and his identity is still a mystery, as are the identities of many of the figures whom Kitty Milroy painted.
Moon was identified by two of Joyce’s daughters, Jeannette and Wendy-Rae, who came into the church last year while on a nostalgic trip around the area where they grew up. Joyce and Alexander (Alec) settled in Folly Lane North and brought up four children who attended St Mark’s and two even sang in the choir, beneath the picture of their mother.
In later life Joyce remarried and moved to the Midlands and in January this year died in Bournedale House care home in Birmingham at the age of 92. The family and friends returned to St Mark’s this month to celebrate Joyce’s life and her ashes were interred in the cemetery close to others in her family. At the service to celebrate her life, her son-in-law Roger stood beneath the picture of Joyce as Moon and played Blue Moon on his saxophone, a fitting tribute to a much-loved Hale lady.
If anyone has any information on who ‘Clouds’ might be, or any of the other figures in the murals please let us know. You can contact us here or email news@badshotleaandhale.org
Easter Eve, the evening of the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, is a time of waiting, a time of joyous anticipation of the Sunday that is to come, of the message of hope, love and light that Easter brings.
For two members of our parish this Easter Eve was particularly special. Lymara Procter and Peter Davies were confirmed with 16 others from the Diocese of Guildford at a service in Guildford Cathedral.
It was, as Peter said afterwards, a wonderful evening, when Peter and Lymara affirmed their faith in God, confirming the promises made at their baptisms, and committing themselves to following Jesus Christ.
Both Bishop Jo, Bishop of Dorking, and Bishop Andrew, Bishop of Guildford, led the service and it was Bishop Andrew who confirmed Peter and Lymara, saying to each that God had called them by name and laying his hands on their heads asking God to confirm them with the Holy Spirit. Then all the candidates were greeted with applause and the words, said by the whole congregation: “We welcome you in the fellowship of faith; we are children of the same heavenly Father; we welcome you”.
It was a service of welcome, of joy, of sharing (we all shared communion after the confirmation), and of expectation – expectation of the hope of Easter and of the continuing journey that Peter, Lymara and all of us will take as we seek to follow Jesus Christ.
Anyone who would like to find out about confirmation should contact Alan or Lesley Crawley on 01252 820537 or revd.lesley@badshotleaandhale.org or revd.alan@badshotleaandhale.org
There are obvious links here to theories of atonement, and in particular penal substitution. Whilst I don’t like the theory on its own, when taken with other theories I find that it can add something to the whole idea of atonement. However, to do this I find it helpful to remember that Jesus was both human and divine, and that in the Trinity God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and as the Athanasian Creed says :
Such as the Father is; such is the Son; and such is the Holy Ghost.
So, instead of God requiring Jesus to go to the cross, it is God too who goes to the cross, which makes in more an image of love than an image of vengeance.
So God puts and end to the need for sacrifice by self sacrifice!
#OURHOLYWEEK
This morning I was at the Cathedral for the blessing of the oils and the renewal of vows. During the service I was led to reflect on the theme of serving others, however it is done, and it made me question the balance between the amount of time the church spends on serving people versus how much time is spent on worship or evangelism. If we look at the Gospels, most of Jesus time was spent serving others (which might lead to evangelism) rather than talking to them. Time for a think!
#OURHOLYWEEK
There were donkeys at St George’s and St Mark’s last Sunday. Twinkle came to St Mark’s, courtesy of Folly Oak Donkeys, while Paddy (pictured above) came to St George’s all the way from the Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth, Devon (he’s actually being fostered in Badshot Lea).
It was Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, and in both cases the donkeys led a procession of children and adults around the outside of the church and in doing so recalled the time Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey while crowds put cloaks and palm leaves down in front of him and called out: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’
It was a triumphal entry, only a king who enters a city should surely be riding something more majestic than a donkey, shouldn’t they? By riding a donkey rather than a horse, Jesus showed he wasn’t the traditional conquering king that perhaps many of his followers wanted, but as a humble king who would upset the world order by being prepared to die and to show us how much God loves us.
Meanwhile, also on Sunday morning, Lesley Crawley could be heard on BBC Radio Surrey talking about Palm Sunday and Holy Week. You can hear her here at 1:49:08.
For details of the services up to and including Easter click here
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As we are in Holy Week, the most likely inspiration for the theme of Betrayal is that of Jesus by Judas – Durer picture above.
And yet, was it a betrayal? To be betrayed there has to be a both a loyalty, and a harm.
There has long been a train of thought that Judas was required, even destined, to hand Jesus over, because without Jesus being handed over there would be no Resurrection. If we buy this argument then Judas was not betraying Jesus, but helping him.
It all rather depends on your view of predestination; if you believe in free will, then Judas could have not handed Jesus over, whilst God could still have found a way for the events to play out. However, in these circumstances, the fact that Judas chose to do so then becomes a betrayal, and adds to the pressure on Jesus, as he then knows that one of his disciples has betrayed him. It could even be that the words
are not, as I always interpreted, a command to go and inform the chief priests, but an instruction to go and do what he was going to decide to do, as the suspense was unbearable (this is almost certainly a minority reading, as John’s Gospel is always showing Jesus as in control – however, I find that contemplating ideas like this can add to the understanding of what happened, even if they are “wrong”).
#OurHolyWeek
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 