Christmas Craft Market
Join our Christmas Tree Festival!
It’s never to early to think about decorating your Christmas tree!
That’s the message from the parish as we are calling for entries for the Christmas Tree Festival which will run at St George’s over the weekend of December 5th-7th, in aid of Phyllis Tuckwell, Hospice Care.
Individuals, organisations, schools, charities, businesses, anyone is welcome to enter, and it is totally free to enter. Any size is welcome – large or tiny or anything in the middle, but please let us know dimensions to help our planning. It doesn’t have to be a traditional tree and the only restriction is that the base is no wider than 4ft. It can have lights – battery or mains, but not musical – and let us know when you reserve your space which type you will be using so we can organise a socket for you.
On the Saturday morning, both the Town Cryer and Father Christmas will visit to inspect the trees and encourage donations. There will also be live music, refreshments, Morris dancing and craft stalls.
It’s being organised by Christine Brown who said: “This should be a lovely community event for all and we are planning for 40 trees, but please sign up quickly as those spaces are going fast.
“There will be donation boxes next to every tree so that people can put money into the boxes of their favourite trees. There will be a prize for the tree with the highest amount donated and half of all the money raised from the donations will go to Phyllis Tuckwell to support the wonderful work they do for our community.”
The prize will be awarded at St George’s Christmas carol service on Sunday, December 7th at 6pm. Rev’d Lexi Russell, will not only present a trophy but also announce the amount raised during the festival.
Entry forms are available from Christine Brown, and should be returned by November 14th, though once all the spaces are filled entries will be closed.
Pray with us
Last Wednesday of the month, 7pm, St Mark’s.
You are invited to join us for a parish prayer meeting on the last Wednesday of the month at 7pm at St Mark’s, Upper Hale. The next one will be on February 25th.
Join us to pray for the community, the world, the parish, each other.
If you have any prayer requests, please email Rev’d Lexi or call her on 07792233477.
The new Trinity service
Come along to our new informal, contemporary service on the first and third Sunday of the month at 3pm at St George’s, Badshot Lea.
This will be a space where everyone is welcome to come and explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus, look at the Bible, pray and worship together. We can’t wait to see you there.
Contact Rev’d Lexi for more details. 07792233477.
What is your vision for the parish?
We are holding a Vision Morning on October 4th, 10am-12pm, at St Mark’s Church, so that we can all have a say in the future of the parish and try to discern what God is calling us to in this new phase.
What would you like to see happening in the next years? New services? Youth work? More support for older people? Families? Tackling isolation? Evangelism? Prayer?
Have you a particular idea which you think might be part of the way God will work among us all and the communities we serve? How might we work together to allow God’s light to shine through us?
Even if you haven’t a single idea, come and listen and find out more.
All welcome. If you have any questions contact Lexi on
07792233477
Autumn Craft Market
Sat, September 20th, 10am-2pm, St Mark’s Church
St Mark’s will be buzzing on Saturday, September 20th, when we hold our Autumn Craft Market, starting at 10am and running until 2pm.
Come and browse the stalls for toys, handknits, cards, jewellery, needlecraft and all manner of gifts. There is live music and a café to meet you friends for a cuppa and eat homemade rolls and cakes.
What’s more, you can see the beautiful Kitty Milroy murals, painted in the early 20th century and restored in 2021. These have been recognised as nationally important in the development of mural art and an exceptional example of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
It’s free to enter and always a lovely atmosphere.
Bring your pets to church
It’s time to bring your dogs, cats (maybe not), guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, geckos, pet spiders, snakes, stick insects and any other animals you have living at home to church for our annual pet service which, this year, will be at St Mark’s at 11am.
Pets are a wonderful blessing to many of us and can help our mental and physical health. So let’s give thanks for them in all their shapes and sizes and bring them for a blessing. If your pet is too large or too nervous to come to church, you can bring a picture of them instead. And if you don’t have a pet, why not bring a favourite soft toy instead? Or dress up as an animal? After all, as the hymn says: all God’s creatures got a place in the choir!
Rev’d Lexi Russell said: “Pets are indeed welcome in all forms, fluffy or scaly. Their humans will be tolerated.
“I believe that God loves all creatures. Pets are a really important part of people’s families and we want to celebrate everyone in our families.”
Pictured below is Lexi and her dog Bugsy.
Come and see Kitty at our Heritage Open Days
St Mark’s is taking part in the 2025 Heritage Open Days and welcoming people to the church on Friday, September 19th at 11am and Saturday, September 20th at 3pm, to see the Kitty Milroy murals and have all their questions answered by Nick Seversway who is an expert on the subject.
This is an ideal opportunity for anyone who hasn’t yet seen the murals, or would like to find out more, to come along and have a detailed look.
The murals, which are of significant national importance in the development of 20th-century mural painting, were painted between 1911 and 1920 by local woman Eleanor Catherine Wallace Milroy (‘Kitty’) using other local people as models.
They blend influences from European Symbolist painting and the Arts and Crafts Movement and have been featured in the national media. Comparisons have been made with pictures in The Watts Chapel and it is known that Mary Watts visited the area.
The murals are a celebration of faith, seen through the natural world, and include the words ‘O, all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord’ (The Benedicite, a canticle taken from ‘The Song of the Three Holy Children’ from the apocryphal parts of the Book of Daniel) and ‘O give thanks unto the Lord’ (from Psalm 136).
They had deteriorated significantly over the years and in 2021 were restored by internationally renowned mural conservationists Stephen Rickerby and Lisa Shekede.
There is no need to book, so please come along on September 19th or 20th. Refreshments will be served.
Cake and Clothes: Happy birthday Clothing Giveaway!
A year ago the parish got together with the Hale Community Centre to start a new project—the weekly Clothing Giveaway and Café on Monday mornings at St Mark’s.
We didn’t know how it would work out but, 12 months down the line, we have queues at the door every Monday before 9am and several hundred free items of clothing or shoes go out of that same door before 11am. In fact, we are so pleased that we will be celebrating on September 8th with birthday cake!
The idea of the Clothing Giveaway is to encourage people not just to throw out their old clothes but to donate them—as long as they are in good condition and clean—and to fill the spaces in their wardrobe with clothes which may have been worn but still have plenty of life left in them. The current preferred expression for this is ‘pre-loved’ which probably appeals more than ‘second-hand’.
This has a two-fold goal: to help people save money and to help save the planet. Many of us are struggling economically after years of austerity and the fashion industry has a serious and growing impact on the environment in terms of water-use, emissions and landfill, as well as the human cost of poor working conditions (see here for example). We are doing just a little bit towards protecting the planet and its inhabitants, but the more people who do their bit, the more impact we all have.
The Clothing Giveaway has been able to have this successful first year thanks to a lot of hard work and generosity. Farnham Lions and Voluntary Action South West Surrey gave us grants; clothes, shoes, sheets, towels, and baby gear have poured in from donors; the Community Centre designed flyers and banners and keeps spreading the news; and St Mark’s congregation has shown a wealth of forbearance about having a section of the church permanently filled with clothes as well as putting out tables every Sunday for setting-up later.
Most of all, I want to thank the volunteers who work tirelessly every week, sorting, folding, hanging and even ironing clothes; laying them out in a far more appealing way than I could ever manage; coming up with themes; taking bags of unusable clothes to be recycled; serving tea, coffee, cakes and pastries; chatting to those who come in; and generally keeping the show on the road. Amanda, Anne, Kay, Mandy, Sonia, Steph and Sylvie are there week by week with others dipping in and out when they can. Thank you all!
We could do with some more help, especially in clearing up at 11am on a Monday so if you think you could help, even occasionally, let us know. Email me at rev.stella@badshotleaandhale.org or call me on 07342508164 which is my number for curacy matters.
Come and see us on September 8th for cake and clothes, or any other Monday you fancy. We are open every Monday morning, 9-11am, apart from Bank Holidays and we will close over Christmas and New Year.
Pride services
Come to our Pride Services this Sunday – 7th – at all three churches. Celebrate the wonderful diversity of humans, loved by God just as we are.
Services times are St John’s: 9.30am; St George’s: 10am; and St Mark’s: 11am.
All are welcome.
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 