Children and Youth, Health and Wholeness, Pastoral Care, support

Children’s Mental Health Week

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This week is Children’s Mental Health Week and it can’t come soon enough. All around us young people are struggling – lockdown, home-schooling, missing friends and family, anxiety, exam pressure, no space of their own. Some have added pressures – they may have parents or siblings working on the frontline, they may have lost someone during the pandemic, be ill or have a friend or family member who is ill. Some are living in homes where they do not feel safe.

There are lots of resources to help, particularly on the website www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/ This year the theme is Express Yourself. Finding creative ways of expression can be a huge boost to mental health. Art, craft, music, poetry, photography and drama are great ways of expressing our feelings and can make us feel better. There are ideas on the mental health week website, and some  free virtual sessions led by experts and familiar faces across acting, art, content creation, dance and writing. 

We are running a lockdown poetry festival so why not have a go at expressing your feelings in poetry – and encourage your children to do too.

If you need further help there are people out there to offer it. Don’t struggle on your own. Childline can be a great source of support for young people – 0800 1111 – and we have a list of numbers in the poster below.

Please do feel free to contact the clergy – revd.alan@badshotleaandhale.org
revd.lesley@badshotleaandhale.org
01252 820537.

And in an emergency, call 999.

Coronavirus, outreach, Pastoral Care

Help us say thank you with flowers

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UPDATE: Enough people have volunteered for Wednesday. Just need some car drivers for Thursday morning. Book via this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4AAAAA2BA2F4C16-abunch1

Is anyone in Farnham free tomorrow morning (Wed 3rd) or Thursday morning (4th)? Help is needed with bunching and then distributing daffodils to all the surgeries, pharmacies, care homes and the hospital with thanks from the Farnham community for all their ongoing hard work.

On Wednesday (3rd) we need people to go to the foyer at Farnham Maltings between 9.30am and 12.30pm to attach small cards to each bunch of flowers saying who they are from and helping to organise them, ready for distributing on Thursday. There are 500 bunches to get through.

Everyone will be seated at their own workstation in the foyer, two metres apart. Please wear a mask when you are in the building and make use of the hand sanitiser provided. Please also wear warm layers -as the space will be well ventilated. If you have fingerless gloves bring them along too. Bring a flask with a warm drink and any snacks you might want.

Sign up to help here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4AAAAA2BA2F4C16-abunch

On Thursday (4th) people are needed to distribute the flowers for a short period between 9.30 and 11.30am. You will need to come to Farnham Maltings on Thursday morning (you will be assigned a slot when you sign up) and pick up your flowers, a high-vis jacket and lanyard so when you drop them off they know you are a volunteer.

When you deliver the flowers, please take a moment to explain why the community is doing this, and pass on an enormous thank-you to those you are delivering to.

Sign up to help here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4AAAAA2BA2F4C16-abunch1

Children and Youth, Church Buildings, Coronavirus, Inclusion, News Releases, Services

Reports of our death have been exaggerated

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You may have read or heard national media reports on the Church of England in decline and dire consequences ensuing. Well, not on our watch. The parish has been bucking the trend and is seeing growing congregations both online and in person.

Though we were shut for many months last year because of Covid, we’ve seen new people coming to church when we have been able to be open and lots of people joining in online with our services, groups and festivals we have run.

Lesley Crawley says: “This has been a time of extraordinary change for us all and we have had to adapt to the challenges and respond in a way which meets the needs of those around us. Going online had been one obvious response and it is something we should have done years ago, alongside our services in church. There are lots of people who would like to come to church but can’t for whatever reason – disability, caring responsibilities, ill health, shift work and the like – so being able to access online services when they like is a real bonus.  What’s more they can take part by recording readings, prayers etcetera.

“We’ve also really involved people in the services in the churches themselves, ensuring that it’s a whole-church event rather than just the same people standing up the front and speaking. So we have families doing drama for instance, or reading poetry and they have really enjoyed it.

“But it’s not just the numbers, we have also thought carefully about how we relate to everyone around us. So we have, run online events – our latest is a poetry festival – and looked at how we can use the buildings better, make them more accessible, change the way we do outreach, really get serious about church health and develop ambitious plans for the future. We have seen this as an opportunity to understand what our community wants from us and how we can share God’s love with everyone so that everyone feels welcomed and valued whoever they are and whatever their circumstances.”

Watch out for more changes and growth as we continue to seek God’s will and respond to people around us.

Picture: New growth by Agatha Valenca on Unsplash

Environment, Lent, magazine

Your February Magazine is here

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The February issue of the parish magazine is out. It’s full of information for this month, particularly about pancakes and Lent, along with articles on food waste, giving north Farnham a voice, eco living, Climate Change, a word from the local MP, prayer, the Church Cat and lots more.

You can find the magazine below. But if you would like a paper copy, please let us know by emailing Anne Young: ah_young33@hotmail.com

The cover price of the magazine is £10 for the year which pays for the editorial costs. We would be grateful if those accessing it online would make a donation of £1 an issue. You can donate by clicking here.

The magazine is available here:

February 21February

Services

Candlemas Services – 31st January

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Today we are celebrating Candlemas. Below are the services.  First here are the notices:

Notices

Giving
Please Give to our Ministry This church relies on donations to provide care and support to everyone in this community. Now more than ever, please consider giving generously to support our mission and ministry by clicking the button above. Thank you for your support.
Lockdown Poems
We would love to hear your lockdown poems and to use them in our services. Some examples can be found here – https://badshotleaandhale.org/2021/01/14/lockdown-poems/  Please get writing and tell us how the lockdown has felt for you!

Services

All-Age:
More Traditional:
Pancakes and temptation, Services

Pancakes and Temptations

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On 14th February, two days before Shrove Tuesday, we will be thinking about pancakes and how delicious they are and temptations and how tempting they are!

Please email us pictures of your pancakes in the week before the 14th and we will try to include them somewhere on our website.

Also, if you are coming to church on the 14th February please print out a picture of your pancakes (decorate them as you wish) and we will pin them up on a display board showing how delicious they all are!

History

History of Old Park

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The historic Farnham Old Park was located to the West of Folly Hill and was the original Deer Park for the Castle before the existing (new) Park. The origin of the Old Park is estimated at 1138 when Bishop Henry of Blois built his castle. Deer were hunted in the Old Park by the Bishops and King John from the castle. The Old Park also provided timber, pottery, tiles and osier. The landscape of Old Park is still distinctive and its boundary can still be seen today with ancient species-rich hedgerows running alongside a stream or ditch. The boundary can be traced as to the east by Folly Hill, to the South by a hedge bank running past Burles Farm to Lower Old Park Farm up at Faulkner’s Folly along the West side along Dora’s Green Lane to Warren Corner and Ewshot Hall and then across the Odiham Road to Lawday House Farm.

Bridleways such as Old Park Lane and Middle Old Park follow the course of St Swithun’s Way, a track used for pilgrimages to Winchester. Upper Old Park Lane has the beautiful Cromwell Oak and the Folly from which Folly Hill was named, where the King and his huntsmen hid in wait of deer during the hunt can be seen. The top of the Old Park is Caesar’s Camp (an iron age hillfort and scheduled ancient monument – 1007895), which was included in the Old Park of the Bishop’s of Winchester in the 11th Century. It is a Special Protection Area (SPA) and the Bourley & Long Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for wildlife namely Nightjar, Woodlark and Dartford Warbler, the three internationally rare bird species. In the time of the Bishop’s it was known as Lawday Heath Common by Lawday House Farm and was where the 100s of Farnham and Crondall met twice a year on “Law Day” for the holding of the Hundred Court. In the mid 1670’s Bishop Morley leased the Old Park to farms to raise money.

The outline of the Great or Old Park – Elfrida Manning 1984

by Jane Watson (shared with permission)

Serving the Villages North of Farnham: Badshot Lea, Hale, Heath End & Weybourne