Category Archives: Churchyard

Situations Vacant

Situations Vacant

There are lots of roles that you can help with at church – please do get involved. Email revd.lesley@badshotleaandhale.org to find out more:

Youth

Open the Book Member

Role description: Open the Book is part of the Bible Society and is groups of people from local churches visiting local schools and reading Bible stories – but it is so much more than that! We have had a team in this parish for the past seven years and we would like more people to join our team. There is a rolling programme of stories with comments and prayers all approved by the schools and Ofsted. This is a wonderful experience – for us as a team and the children we meet. They look forward to our visits, often take part in the stories and always enter into the spirit of the story. It is an honour to introduce the next generation to the wonderful stories of God and his love for us.

Person description: Enjoy being with children and telling them stories, and have about two hours during the school day, alternate weeks in term time.

Hours: We practise and prepare on alternate Monday mornings at 9:15.

Visit Folly Hill school on alternate Tuesday mornings 10:15 – 10:45.

Visit Badshot Lea school and Tootsies nursery on alternate Wednesday mornings 10:15 – 11:15.

Reports to: Margaret

School Mentors

Role description: We have recently taken on the running of a mentoring scheme for young people in Heath End School.  We listen and talk to a young person for an hour a week during term time and there is a termly meeting of mentors.  Commitment is for a term at a time, initial training involves safeguarding and training of mentoring – three courses of 4 hours.

Person description: A non-judgmental attitude and love for teenagers

Hours: 3 hours per week term time

Reports to: Simon

Parish Roles

PCC Secretary

Role description:

To circulate the agenda and relevant information before each meeting of the PCC in consultation with the incumbents. To take minutes and circulate them to members after the meetings

To liaise with members by email in between meetings such as taking votes on items which cannot wait. Keep a record of the results and post them on Office 365.

To prepare the Annual Report in consultation with the incumbent

To organise and minute the Annual Meetings

To handle correspondence on behalf of the Parish

To correspond with the Diocese informing them of names and contact details of officers in the Parish

To update the Charities Commission website with details of Officers and members of the PCC

To upload the Annual Report and Finance Report to the Charities Commission website in consultation with the incumbents

To correspond with the Charities Commission when necessary

Person description: Good organisational skills, ability to precis and pick out the essentials at meetings, patience, basic knowledge of Word/Excel

Hours: 1-2 hours per week

System Support

Role description: The parish currently runs on a variety of Google sheets, with associated Javascript macros. There is an opportunity to support these, or to help move them to Office 365 Power Automate

Person description: Good Computer skills with some experience of programming

Number of hours: Work expands to fill the time available!  If it is ongoing support there is perhaps an hour a week, but this can come in lumps as Google have a habit of changing things without telling us and they then need to be made to work in the new regime.

Reports to: Alan

Social Media Lead

Role description: Running our Instagram account and Twitter account

Person description: Understands social media and contemporary online culture.

Hours: 30 mins per day

Reports to: Stella

Social Media Team Member

Role description: Sharing, liking and commenting on our social media posts

Person description: Just needs to be on a social media platform

Hours: virtually nil

Reports to: Stella

Magazine editor

Role description: Putting together the parish magazine each month, asking for contributions, laying out the pages.

Person description: Computer literate with an eye for laying out the magazine and an understanding of what the readers will want in their magazine

Hours: 16 per month

Reports to: Stella

Magazine delivery coordination

Role description: Coordinating a team of people to deliver the magazines. Posting some of the magazines to those who live outside the parish

Person description: Good at organisation and spreadsheets, good at leading a team

Hours: 4 per month

Reports to: Stella

Notice Board Officer

Role description: Collect items to put on the boards and pin them up once a week

Person description: Able to collect the posters etc and get round the three churches, a good eye to ensure the boards look attractive

Hours: 2 hours per week

Reports to: Stella 

Pastoral Support

Role description: Calling people to check they are ok, visiting when that is allowed

Person description: Empathetic, non-judgemental, good at listening, loves people

Hours: Depends on agreement

Reports to: Lesley

Vergers for Occasional Offices

Role description: Available occasionally during the day and on Saturdays to help at Funerals and Weddings – able to work the CD player and put out the microphones and welcome people

Person description: Good with technology and welcoming

Hours: Ad hoc – you will be part of a team of people called upon occasionally

Reports to: Lesley

Church roles

Singers to sing in the Parish Choir

Role description: Attending choir practice and singing in the choir at St John’s and St George’s

Person description: A love of singing, and the ability to sing in tune.  It is not necessary to be able to read music.

Hours: Choir practice is at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea, every Monday during term time, from 6pm ’till 7 or 7.15pm. Services last one hour every Sunday morning at each of the churches.

Musician

Role Description: Musician to play occasionally at services at either St. George’s or St. John’s

Person description: A competent and confident keyboard player, preferably, but could be a guitar player, accordion player, or fiddle player! With imagination and enthusiasm for playing, and leading the choir and congregation in the singing.

Hours: – playing for a service one Sunday morning a month, practise in the hymns on the rota to be played.  Prepare suitable music to play at the beginning and end of each service, and during the service, as required.

Reports to: Margaret

Cleaning at each of the churches

Role description: Clean the church and other rooms

Person description: Good at cleaning

Hours: 1.5 hours per week for St John’s and St Mark’s.

Reports to: Warden

On Call Key Holders for St John’s and for St George’s

Role description: Holds keys to the church and is able to open up the church at short notice

Person description: Able to be contacted at short notice during the day or evening

Hours: very infrequent occurrence

Reports to: Warden 

Eco-Church representative at each of the churches

Role description: Four churches are Eco-churches, a national initiative that uses an online questionnaire to assess churches. This person needs to fill in the online data, recommend policies to the PCC and promote eco work in congregation

Person description: Knowledgeable and passionate about environmental issues and computer literate

Hours: Depends on agreement

Reports to: Lesley

St John’s Church

Intercessors

Role description: Prepare prayers for the Sunday Service and pray them during the service

Person description: Able to lead prayers

Hours: 1 per month

Reports to: Warden

Servers

Role description: Prepare everything for communion and assist the priest during the service

Person description: Willing to help during the service

Hours: 1 per month

Reports to: Warden

Opening and closing the church

Role description: Opens and closes the church on a rota

Person description: Able to get to the church and open or close it

Hours: depends on how often they are on the rota

Reports to: Warden

Coffee lead

Role description: Make sure there are people to serve coffee each week and that we have the right supplies

Person description: Friendly and welcoming and able to fill in an online spreadsheet

Hours: Very few – the rota should run without too much intervention

Reports to: Warden

Grounds officer at St John’s

Role description: Able to organise teams to help occasionally. At each of the churches we do have great people who are already doing gardening, but there are sometimes additional maintenance works that needs a team

Person description: Enjoys gardening and grounds maintenance

Hours: Depends on agreement

Reports to: Warden

St George’s Church

St Georges Risk Assessment Co-ordinator

Role description: The parish have a small group who create Generic Risk Assessments and assist in the creation of non Generic Risk Assessments.  The aim is to have one from each Church so that local knowledge is represented on the group. 

Person description: Prior experience of creating Risk Assessments would be ideal.

Hours: The time is difficult to specify as it will depend on the need for new Risk Assessments.  However, there is an initial period of catch up reviewing the risks that we currently have and rationalising them into Generic Risk Assessments which can be used by multiple Activities.  During this initial stage about 6 hours/month should be required.

Reports to: Alan

Welcomers

Role description: Put out chairs and welcome people as they arrive.

Person description: Fit and able to move chairs, friendly and welcoming

Hours: 2 per month

Reports to: Warden

Mowers

Role description: Mow the lawn at St George’s from the spring

Person description: Able to use the electric mower

Hours: 3 per month

Reports to: Bill

Servers

Role description: Prepare everything for communion and assist the priest during the service

Person description: Willing to help during the service

Hours: 1 per month

Reports to: Warden

St Mark’s Church

Maintenance officer at St Mark’s

Role description: Repair things that can be repaired and call in contractors when necessary. Check fabric monthly.

Person description: Good at DIY. Ideally it would be good to have electrician, construction or plumbing experience

Hours: 2 hours per week

Reports to: Warden

Gardener at St Mark’s

Role description:

We need a person prepared to tend the hedges either side of the main driveway down the side of St Marks. The object is to ensure they remain neat and to prevent significant incursion onto the driveway itself. We have people for grass mowing and major hedge trimming at the moment, so this should not be necessary.

Hours:

It is estimated this may take up to 2 hours per month.

Reports to:

Warden

Churches open for prayer and reflection

Following the death of His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on Friday morning (April 9), the three churches in the Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale will all be open this week from Monday to Friday for people to come in and light a candle, pray or just sit quietly. There will also be black ribbons available to tie in the churchyards as a sign of mourning and reflection.

The churches are St George’s, Badshot Lea, GU9 9LD; St John’s, Hale Road, GU9 9RP (park in the layby near Daniele Sicilian Restaurant); and St Mark’s, Alma Lane, GU9 0LT.

Because of Covid-19 we are unable to have a physical Book of Condolence but if you wish to sign one, there is an online one here: https://www.churchofengland.org/remembering-his-royal-highness-prince-philip

You can also do so by scanning the QR code here:

A copy of the QR code will be available in the churches.

If you need support or further information, contact admin@badshotleaandhale.org or call 07842761919.

Picture of Prince Philip copyright: Press Association

Tie Ribbons in the Churchyards For the National Day of Reflection

The 23rd March is a National Day of Reflection, marking a year since the first lockdown. St John’s church will be open for prayer on the 22nd and 23rd and the bell will toll at midday on the 23rd. Please come and tie ribbons of any colour in the churchyards of St John’s, Hale, St Mark’s Upper Hale and St George’s, Badshot Lea in solidarity with the millions of people who are grieving.

Carols in the Night

A wonderful evening of carols, readings and prayers in the churchyard at St John’s yesterday. Huge thanks to all who took part, including the Mayor of Farnham, Cllr Pat Evans; Farnham Heath End School; Waverley Singers; Farnham Brass Band; the St John’s Choir; and the Cogger family who provided the PA system.

Come along to St Mark’s, Alma Lane, Hale, tomorrow (Friday) and St George’s, Badshot Lea, on Sunday, both at 6pm, for more of the same.

Carols By Moonlight

Join us for some outdoor carol services in the grounds of all three of our churches:

Wednesday, December 16, 6pm: St John’s, Hale.

Friday, December 18, 6pm: St Mark’s, Upper Hale.

Sunday, December 20, 6pm: St George’s, Badshot Lea.

Wrap up warm and join us for socially distanced carol singing and readings for Christmas. There will be favourite carols – Once in Royal David’s City, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, Silent Night and others – and at St John’s we will be joined by members of Farnham Brass Band, Waverley Singers, and a choir from St John’s.

There will also prayers and Bible readings, and we are delighted to welcome some of our local representatives to help with the readings.

Cllr Pat Evans, Mayor of Farnham, will read at St John’s; Cllr Penny Marriot, Mayor of Waverley, will read at St Mark’s; and Cllr Mark Merryweather of both Farnham Town Council and Waverley Borough Council will read at St George’s.

Bring a mask and a torch as well as warm clothes and join us for some Christmas joy!

Beacons of Light and Hope

The night sky will be lit up across Farnham this Saturday by beacons which will shine out from 5-8.30pm from eight places across the town, including St John’s and St Mark’s Churches.

The lights will sweep across the sky from Badshot Lea, Weybourne, Upper Hale, Rowledge, Wrecclesham, The Bourne, Farnham Castle and Central Farnham and will mark the beginning of the Christmas season in Farnham.

During the shining of the beacons, the switching on of the Christmas lights in the town centre and surrounding neighbourhoods, will also take place.  

The beacons are being staged by Farnham Town Council to represent the coming together of the Farnham community during 2020 and hopes for a brighter 2021. 

Councillor Alan Earwaker, the council’s lead member for tourism and events, said: “COVID may stop us inviting residents to the town centre to see an official Christmas lights switch-on this year but let us bring the lights to you. Wherever you live in Farnham or nearby villages, we hope you will be able to see at least one of our searchlights in the sky. Come out to your doorsteps to see them – and give your neighbours a wave too if you can.”

Picture by Casey Horner on Unsplash

  

It’s party time!

There’s a birthday party in St John’s churchyard, Hale, on Saturday, July 20, from 12-2pm, and everyone is invited.

The party, called Music in the Churchyard, will celebrate the 175th anniversary of St John’s. There will be food and drink and plenty of cake, all of it free, with music by Farnham artist Jasper and the Island, and fellow singer Meg Wassell. Both will be performing well-known songs by bands such as ABBA and Fleetwood Mac alongside classic jazz and old-style numbers.

Jasper and the Island is a singer/songwriter with influences from country, pop and folk, but who also enjoys performing theatre and covers. She currently has original songs on SoundCloud, but will be releasing her debut EP later this year. Jasper and the Island often performs on the last Wednesday of the month at The Plough in Farnham. Meg is a jazz/soul/pop singer songwriter whose influences include Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Amy Winehouse and Gregory Porter. In April, Meg released her debut EP Blood Orange and is vocalist for the Sundown Jazz Society band. She is currently creating new music, playing local festivals and holding jazz residencies in her hometown of Hereford.

Pictured from left: Jasper and the Island (photo by Daisy Sharp); Meg Wassell (photo by Ellie Burd).

The idea behind the party is not just to celebrate a milestone for this beautiful Victorian church which was consecrated in 1844, but to invite everyone to come and enjoy the hospitality which the church offers. Lesley Crawley said: “St John’s is everyone’s church and as well as celebrating our anniversary, we are looking forward to the future and we want the community to be involved in that future. We really want to hear from people what they want from the church and are running a survey for residents and local organisations to complete.” To find the survey click here.

Entry to the party is completely free but we need to know numbers so that we can prepare enough food and drink. Let us know if you are coming by emailing news@badshotleaandhale.org