There’s another chance to sing carols under the stars on Monday, December 22, at 6pm, in the grounds at St George’s Church. Join us to sing your favourite carols. Bring a torch, wrap up warm and don’t worry, we’ll go inside if it is wet!
Photo by Skip Linkler on Pexels
St George’s was sparkling with both lights and creatity over the first weekend of December when the parish’s inaugural Christmas Tree Festival took place, also raising around £4,000 for charity.
An estimated 2,000 visitors came to see the 48 trees entered by individuals and organisations, most of whom had taken a imaginative approach to the invitation to create a tree reflecting something about them. The results ranged from a tepee to a tutu, from living flowers to cans of soup, copper pipes to industrial bearings and seemingly everything in between.
Visitors voted for their favourite trees and the overall winner was announced at the carol service on Sunday, December 7. when the raffle was also drawn. The winner was the Tice’s Meadow tree which was made entirely of materials found in the nature reserve with decorations created by children from Hawley Woods School.
There was a café all weekend, and on the Saturday there were craft stalls, live music and a visit from Father Christmas. Overall, the festival raised around £4,000 which has been divided between the parish and Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care.
There were many stand-out moments over the weekend. Among the favourites for Kris Lawrence were: “Children dancing in the aisles in the Carol Service. At the end of set up on Thursday when it was just the organisers, we switched off all the church lights and just soaked up the atmosphere. Similarly the choir singing Oh Holy Night at the end of the carol service with all the church lights switched off was a special moment.”
Rev’d Lexi Russell added: ‘In all my years of going to church this has to be the best event hosted by a parish. The community spirit throughout the festival has been amazing, with lots of people coming together to make each tree so individual and unique. It was clear to see the time, effort and creativity that had gone into each tree and it was a reflection of what can happen when a community comes together for a great cause.
“Of course, with a festival of this scale there has been a team of dedicated volunteers, who have been planning this for months, as well as though who came to lend a hand throughout the weekend – from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Without them, none of this would have been possible. And of course, I must thank those who gave their time to provide entertainment throughout the festival too.
“I’m so proud to have been part of such a brilliant event and I’m looking forward to see how what may happen next year!”
Plans are already in place for another festival next year. Meanwhile, here is a glimpse of this year’s one:
Come and sing favourite carols under the stars at Carols in the Chapels in Upper Hale on Friday, December 5th from 6pm. A live band will be on hand to accompany the carols at this annual event in Hale Chapels Garden in the cemetery in Alma Lane. Afterwards there will be hot chocolate and mulled wine in St Mark’s Church, across the road.
Wrap up warm, sing with gusto, enjoy the hot drinks!
Welcome to Advent – the beginning of the Church’s year and the last month of 2025.
And that means Christmas! Inside the magazine you will find news of all our Christmas services and other events, including our Christmas Tree Festival on December 5-7, and of course carol services and outdoor carol singing and Christmas services. It is a most wonderful time of the year, because it celebrates God in human form, God ever with us.
You’ll find other news such as the start of Bubble Church, and our regular contributors too – Hive Helpers, still busy in the winter months; The Badshot Leader with its eclectic and fascinating mix of current events and history; the Church Dog and the Church Cat. There’s prayer, reflection, news and plenty more.
Read on to find out more.
Get lost in a forest of sparkling, colourful trees at the Christmas Tree Festival on December 5-7 at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea.
There will be 50 trees from individuals, charities, schools and other organisations, and not all the trees will be traditional. According to festival organiser Christine Brown, there will be a tree made entirely from copper pipe, and one constructed as a teepee so that children can go inside. Tice’s Meadow has promised a tree which “celebrates the beauty of nature and is crafted from materials gathered on site’”, while John Martin from the Badshot Lea Community Garden is planning one made of flowers. “I’ll have to construct it there on the day,” he said.
Everyone will be able to vote for their favourite tree by making a donation, and half of all the money given will go to Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice while the other half will go to support the work of church in the community.
Trees are not the only attractions that weekend. Father Christmas will be flying in for an hour at 10.30am on Saturday and children can tour the trees with him and bring their letters to be taken to the North Pole. His security will bring the Naughty and Nice lists and Father Christmas will review these with the children at the end of his visit.
On Saturday there will also be craft stalls and entertainment from Duke’s Uke’s, Jackstraw Morris Dancing, Brodie Mauluka, Cajun Boogaloo, Vivaldi Singers and the church choir. There will be café all weekend and a raffle with prizes including Christmas hampers.
The festival will close with a carol service at 6pm on Sunday at the end of which the public’s favourite tree will be announced and the raffle drawn.
The festival will run on Friday, 1-6pm; Saturday 10-6pm; Sunday 12-4pm.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas with lots going on in the parish, starting with our fabulous Christmas Tree Festival over the weekend of December 5-7 at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea; carols in the Hale Chapel Gardens (Hale cemetery) on December 5, followed by hot chocolate and mulled wine in St Mark’s Church; and a carol service at St George’s on Sunday, December 7 at 6pm.
The carol service will mark the end of the Christmas Tree Festival and the public’s favourite tree will be announced at the end of the service.
There will be a carol service at St John’s Church, Hale, on Sunday, December 14 at 6pm, and more outdoor carol singing on Monday, December 22, also at 6pm, at St George’s Church (inside if wet).
On Christmas Eve there will be crib services at both St George’s and St Mark’s, starting at 3pm with a crib service especially for toddlers at St George’s. This will be followed by an interactive crib service at 5.30pm. At St Mark’s there will be an all-age interactive crib service at 5pm on Christmas Eve.
There will be one Midnight Mass in the parish: at St John’s, starting at 11.30pm and on Christmas morning there will be a family communion at St George’s at 10am and St Mark’s at 11am. Both of these will tell the Christmas story using chocolates and sweets!
Please join us at any or all of these. Everyone is welcome.
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.
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:
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 24th, 11.30pm, at St John’s and St George’s.
9.30am, St John’s.
10am, St George’s.
11am, St Mark’s.
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.
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 