Christmas Craft Market
Category Archives: Christmas
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.
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.
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.
Come to our Christmas Craft Market
Sat, November 16th, 10am-2pm, St Mark’s Church
Shop locally for Christmas and support small business and indivdual crafters by buying your Christmas presents at our Craft Market at St Mark’s on 16 November 10:00am – 2:00pm. As well as an array of great craft items to buy at reasonable prices, there will be a café to meet your friends at, and live music.
Plus, Santa will be in his Grotto, giving out presents, and will be accompanied by his three granny pixies.
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.
Badshot Lea Christmas Lights
The Badshot Lea Christmas lights will be switched on at a celebration at St George’s Church on Monday, November 18th, starting at 5.30pm. There will be singing, fireworks, hot chocolate, mulled wine, mince pies and the Christmas lights on the school opposite the church will be switched on.
Come and join us!
Questioning Faith – ask whatever you want
Who exactly is Jesus? The Christmas season celebrates his birth of Jesus of Nazareth, but who was that Jesus and why is he so important that we remember him 2,000 years after his birth? This is the sort of question which will be raised in ‘Questioning Faith’, a series of five Wednesday evening discussions which will take place in Hale, starting on January 3rd.
Questioning Faith is being run by Lesley Crawley, and anyone who is interested is invited to come to The Rectory, 25 Upper Hale Road, each Wednesday at 7.30pm from January 3-31.
Anyone who has questions about God, the Christian faith, church, or anything about the meaning of life, is invited to join in for 90 minutes of discussion every Wednesday evening. The sort of questions raised on Questioning Faith courses include What about the problem of evil? How should we read the Bible; what kind of literature is it? What is faith? Why go to church? What is the nature of God? Who is Jesus? What is prayer?
No question is too small, too daft, or too controversial to ask, and everyone is welcome whatever their beliefs. After the course there will be the opportunity to be confirmed into the Anglican Church at Easter in Guildford Cathedral, though this is, of course, optional.
For further information about Questioning Faith contact Rev’d Lesley Crawley on 01252 820537.
A cornucopia of carols
There have been carols galore across the Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale this Christmas, with more to come in the next few days.
So far, there have been three carols services, one at each church, and two outside gatherings at which carols were sung with gusto. One was on Monday, 18th, in the grounds of St George’s, under the lit trees, and the second in the new Hale Chapels Garden in the cemetery opposite St Mark’s.
The garden was opened in July this year and blessed by Bishop Christopher Herbert, and has been created using stone and many original features from the old chapels of rest in the cemetery which had fallen into disrepair. The flower beds have been planted with varieties of trees and plants which appear in the Bible and the end result is a peaceful garden which invites reflection and calm.
It was less peaceful on Wednesday, 20th, as around 70 people from across the community, including the Mayor and others from the council, sang with gusto as Rev’d Lesley Crawley led the singing, accompanied by Bob and Lesley Shatwell on violin and recorder, and Margaret Emberson on keyboard. Those three also played at St George’s on Monday.
Afterwards most people headed for St Mark’s for mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies provided by Jeanne Sanders.
It was agreed that, like the St George’s outside carol evening, this should become a regular event.
The next chance to sing carols will be at our crib services at all three churches on Christmas Eve:
3pm at St John’s;
5.30pm at St George’s;
5.30pm at St Mark’s;
Plus a special Toddler Crib Service at 3pm at St George’s.
There will then be Midnight Mass at St John’s and St George’s at 11.30pm on Christmas Eve, and Christmas morning communion services at all three churches:
9.30am at St John’s;
10am at St George’s;
11am at St Mark’s.
Come and celebrate with us!
Community Carol Singing in the Hale Chapels’ Garden
Join local residents and the Mayor of Farnham for Community Carol Singing in the new Hale Chapels’ Garden on Wednesday, December 20th at 7pm. This will be followed by hot chocolate and mince pies at St Mark’s, just across the road.
The Hale Chapels’ Garden is on the site of two former chapels of rest for the Hale Cemetery. These had fallen into disrepair and the garden, in the centre of the front part of the cemetery, has maintained many of the chapels’ original features and has been planted with trees and plants which appear in the Bible.
Everyone is welcome.
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 