Category Archives: Social Events

Social Events, St Mark's Church

Singing Together

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Last Thursday fifteen of us met at St. Marks church for a lovely evening singing together.

Frances had invited local renowned musician, Len Tyler, to meet us and encourage us all to sing even better than we do already!

Len is an expert in the Kodály method of singing. This encourages us to listen, think, and sing at the same time. Within an hour we, as a group, were all singing confidently in four parts. We all felt very pleased with ourselves.

Many of us feel we would like to meet again. Len is extremely busy so cannot join us, but I did a Kodály course as part of my teachers training many years ago, and I am very happy to revise it in order to lead a few sessions if everyone is happy about that.

I suggest we meet again on Thursday 18th May at St. Marks church at 6:15 until 7:30, to sing and socialise.

Len has said he would visit us again in a few months and it would be good to show him what we can do!

See you all soon and  keeeeeep singing!

Margaret 😃

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Social Events, St Mark's Church

Lest we Forget

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“Lest we Forget” was one of the most moving and interesting events that I have ever been to. Jonathan Jones read poetry from the Great War, first from the perspective of the soldiers, and after the interval from the perspective of the women – wives, mothers and lovers left at home.

In between the poems Jonathan explained the context and I learned so much about such things as the origins of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the tradition of wearing poppies and the tomb of The Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey.

We really must never forget the horror of the Great War and I am so grateful to Jonathan for introducing me to poems and history that I was completely unaware of. My favourite poem was “The Road to La Bassée” – so very human and down to earth. I was also struck by the poem “Christ in Flanders” by Lucy Whitmell.

Kathy Robertson did us proud with her team providing authentic WWI refreshments and then Margaret Emberson lead us in singing some WWI songs. Oh and £200 was raised for the “Emily the Organ” appeal.

Lesley Crawley

News Releases, Social Events, St Mark's Church

St Mark’s enjoys a fruitful Apple Day

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On 9th October St Mark’s Church in Upper Hale, Farnham hosted its second Apple Day. Members of the community arrived with bags of apples to be juiced and enjoyed the food, drink and music on offer.

The Reverend Hannah Moore, the new curate in the parish, commented, “It was my first Apple Day and it was such a lovely community event, with people there aged 0 to 94, including three in wheelchairs; and over fifty people stayed for the Harvest service that followed on in the church.”

Lesley Shatwell, the Licenced Lay Minister continued, “The apples and pears were harvested from the community orchard and they were delicious, as were the tasty apple pancakes, accompanied by the sound of cheery musicians playing apple-related songs.”

John Ely, local resident and apple presser said “It was a pleasure to be invited to press apples into juice with so many young helpers and even better to see them enjoy drinking it!”

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News Releases, Social Events, St Mark's Church

A sparkling evening of Kipling

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Jonathan Jones treated local residents to a sparking evening of drama and poetry when he performed a one-man Kipling show at St Mark’s Church, Upper Hale, to raise money for the “Emily the Organ” appeal. One of the parishioners, Kathy Robertson, with her team, provided props and the refreshments and the church was transformed into Kipling’s living room for the evening.

The Reverend Lesley Crawley said, “Jonathan told us Kipling’s life story in the first person. We travelled with him through his difficult childhood and the appalling grief when he lost first his daughter and then his son during the Great War. There was also humour and deep wisdom in the poetry. The evening was spellbinding.”

£380 was raised towards refurbishing the pipe organ, at the moment £6000 has been raised towards the £23,000 target. If you would like to help get the pipe organ playing again then please contact Lesley Crawley on 01252 820537 or revdlesley@gmail.com

Christmas, News Releases, Social Events, St Mark's Church

The Farnham Crier to raise money to save ‘Emily’ the Pipe Organ

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The Farnham Town Crier, Jonathan Jones, will narrate Dickens’s seasonal classic ‘A Christmas Carol’ at St Mark’s Church, Upper Hale on December 5th at 7.30pm. There will be no charge for the evening, but a retiring collection will be taken in aid of ‘Emily’ the pipe organ.

Jonathan Jones remarked, “It is a dramatised reading, based on the script that Dickens himself used for his acclaimed public readings, both here and the United States of America, where the characters of Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and Christmas Past, Present and Future were brought to life on the stage by a solitary figure.”

The Reverend Lesley Crawley, a priest at St Mark’s said, “We are so thankful to Jonathan for offering this performance to save ‘Emily’. Emily is a beautiful Edwardian pipe organ that is just over 100 years old. She is referred to as ‘Emily’ after her benefactor – Emily Mangles. Sadly, she can no longer be played regularly as she is in need of a complete overhaul. I’m really looking forward to the event. Please put the date in your diary and come along with all your friends.”

Social Events, St George's Church

Harvest Supper

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Strains of ‘We plough the fields and scatter’, the smell of good food, happy chatter and warm lights greeted us, as we walked into St. George’s hall on the first Friday night of October. Most people were already seated around the U- shaped layout of tables. Everything was elegant, wine glasses, bright napkins – Vicky, John and their team had been busy. There were lots of smiles and a chance to see old friends and make new ones. My sister, who grew up in Badshot Lea and was delighted at my invite to the Harvest Supper, met an old friend, who was also visiting. They both hid in the kitchen for a lot of the evening, washing up and enjoying a chance to catch up. A lot of hard work and love had obviously gone into the food preparation – and there was so much! Room for third helpings for the extra hungry! I really enjoyed taking a turn at serving the puddings – scraping the last bits of the tray is always the best.

Everyone helped to clear, fold down tables and shift chairs and almost with no effort the hall was ready for the entertainment. Home made talent – reminisance of times gone by- when people made their own fun, rather than relying on the television. A big thank you to everyone who stepped forward to ‘do a piece’. (I must especially mention Grace, who played the piano. I was gobsmaked at her skill).

All too quickly the evening came to an end – everyone joined in helping and the hall was back to normal in no time. There was a real sense of community. Young and old, everyone looked happy and there was a warm, fuzzy feel.
I should do a list of ‘thank yous’, but I’m not going to, as I am bound to miss someone who worked hard and quietly in the background. So, suffice to say, we are all grateful to everyone who helped to make the 2015 Harvest Supper one of the best ever.

Maxine Everitt

Services, Social Events, St John's Church

St John’s Patronal Festival

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At St John’s we will be celebrating our Patronal Festival with an All-Age service at 9:30am on 6th September followed by a BBQ in the Rectory Garden (25 Upper Hale Road, GU9 0NX) at 12:00, bring your own meat and alcohol (if desired), we will provide the buns, salad and soft drinks.

Our Saint’s Day is 27th December but as few people are around at that time and the clergy are on holiday, we have translated the festival to Sunday. This is a bit of information about our patron saint:

Whether or not John the Apostle and John the Evangelist are one and the same, the Church honours on this day the one who proclaims Jesus as the Word made flesh and who is ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’. John was one of the sons of Zebedee, along with James and Peter, who followed Jesus. John was there at the Transfiguration of Jesus on the holy mountain; he was there with Jesus at the last supper; he was there with Jesus in his agony in the garden; he was there with Jesus and his mother, standing at the foot of the cross; he was there with Jesus as a witness of his resurrection and ‘he saw and believed’. John was a witness to the Word, he proclaimed the Word and he lived and died witnessing to the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, who loved him and whom he loved.

From Exciting Holiness

Social Events, St George's Church

Quiz Night Fun!

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Every chair was taken and every table was used at St George’s Church Rooms last night as we packed in for the Quiz Night. No real idea how many people were there – over a hundred. Carrie and Jason Grafham, helped by Mat and Christine Brown put on a great evening. The idea wasn’t to make money – it was to have fun – but I think somewhere between £400-£600 pounds was made for church funds. Thanks to all who helped!

Here are the photos of the evening:

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