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.
Autumn is, just about, here and so is our September magazine. Inside you can find news on upcoming events including our Pride services on September 7th, our Pet service, Craft Market, Harvest Festival, Harvest Supper, a concert from Out of the Shadows and Heritage Open Days. There is spiritual reflection and prayer, reports on events and the Church Cat and the Church Dog vying for your attention.
There are plenty of adverts too so please do use the companies who kindly advertise in our magazine. They enable us to keep going.
Download the magazine below:
On the afternoon of Saturday, August 23, a group of pilgrims from St George’s Church, Wash Common, Newbury, will arrive at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea, as part of a pilgrimage from Newbury to Guildford Cathedral.
They will be greeted by members of St George’s, St John’s and St Mark’s who are putting on a Top 10 Summer Hymns event to celebrate, and will be firing up the barbecue so that everyone can enjoy a meal together.
The pilgrimage is a regular event for the group. Peter Wright, the pilgrimage organiser, said: “St George’s has been undertaking a walking pilgrimage each year for the last 30 years. The current format is to walk for four days (40 to 50 miles) each August. We have never visited Guildford Cathedral, which is why we opted for Winchester to Guildford (starting at St Swithun-upon-Kingsgate) and using the St Swithun’s Way footpath.”
The pilgrims expect to arrive about 4pm for tea and cake and the barbecue will be at 6.30pm, followed by everyone singing the ‘Top Ten Summer Hymns’. The hymns will be chosen by votes which cost £1 a go. Votes are being collected by Kris Lawrence and need to be in by Sunday, August 17. There are voting slips and more details in all the churches or Kris can be contacted on warden.stgeorges@badshotleaandhale.org .
The barbecue will be £5 a head to cover costs and Kris will need numbers by August 17. Please contact her on the email above.
The pilgrims will stay overnight in St George’s before leaving for the cathedral in the morning.
Peter Wright continued: “The pilgrimage started off as a youth pilgrimage led by the then vicar in the early 1990s, but the adults soon wanted a pilgrimage of their own. Typically, we walk 40 to 50 miles over four days, staying in church or village halls and ending at a cathedral or abbey. In the last few years we have travelled Sherborne to Bristol Cathedral, Whitchurch to Christchurch Priory and Stratford on Avon to Lichfield Cathedral. Some of the pilgrims are from other churches in the diocese.”
Join us at St John’s Church on Friday 4th July at 7pm as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, with Pugs and Prejudice, an entertaining talk about Austen’s life as well as the dogs and costumes of the Regency period. Admission is free.
The talk will be given by Jenny Colquhoun, a local Jane Austen expert and enthusiast. She will be assisted by her Maltese dog, Lilli (pictured above). The pair will be dressed in matching Regency outfits and there will be a selection of bonnets, top hats, waistcoats and cravats for you to try on, too.
To accompany the event, Margaret Emberson and Lesley and Bob Shatwell will play Regency music, and there will be refreshments, including homemade cakes. You will also have a chance to win some Maltesers from Lilli.
You may have visited Jane Austen’s home in Chawton, but did you know that her family also had a Farnham connection? Jane’s brother, Henry, became a curate in Farnham in 1819. This raises the question, did Jane ever visit her brother in Farnham? Henry has often been described as her favourite brother, so it seems hard to believe that she never travelled here. There is nothing in her letters to suggest that she did but, since some of her letters were burned by her sister, it is fun to imagine that perhaps Jane was familiar with our town too.
Join us on Friday, July 4th, at 7pm, at St John’s, Hale, for an entertaining evening of doggy tales and tails, bonnets and bows. Although admission is free, there will be the opportunity to make a donation towards restoring St John’s tower. Please let us know if you are coming as we need to know how many to cater for and Lilli wants to know how many packs of Maltesers to pop in her Regency reticule. Call 07842761919 or email admin@badshotleaandhale.org.
Pictured: Left: A Reticule bag. (Image from Look and Learn, Rijksmuseum).
Right: Jenny and Lilli at a recent Jane Austen event.
Welcome to your June magazine and a host of events, articles, news reports, thoughts and comments. Plus the Church Cat’s annual report and the approach of a Church Dog. Click on the link below to download it.
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 