Category Archives: St George’s Church

Giving and Fundraising, Harvest, Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Harvest!

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Come and celebrate the fruits of the earth and share with others at our harvest festivals on Sunday, September 26.

The services are at St John’s, Hale, at 9.30am, St George’s, Badshot Lea, at 10am, and St Mark’s, Upper Hale, at 11am. There will also be an online service here on the website and on Facebook available from 10am.

Please bring non-perishable food to church to share with Farnham Foodbank. Currently the Foodbank is in desperate need of tinned hot dog sausages, tinned stewed steak, tinned minced beef and fruit jam.

Rev’d Lesley Crawley says: “Harvest is a time when we not only celebrate the gifts of God’s earth, but think of others who are struggling to feed themselves and their families. This is a growing reality in Britain today, even though we are one of the most economically developed countries in the world. Obviously we want to give to help alleviate this need, but the church is also there to challenge and ask questions about why this should be the case and what we can do about it.”

Photo by Elaine Casap.

Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Bring your pets to church!

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We are holding a pet service at each of our three churches on Sunday, October 3.

Bring your dogs, rabbits, rats, mice, gerbils, hamsters, spiders, snakes or whatever other pet you own for a blessing at any of the services – 9.30am at St John’s, Hale, 10am at St George’s, Badshot Lea, and 11am at St Mark’s, Upper Hale. Cats are obviously welcome too but tend to be difficult to herd into anywhere, let alone a church where there are other animals. If you like you can bring a toy pet or photo of your pet and children are welcome to come dressed as animals too.

Castle Vets, which has a branch at 131 Upper Hale Road, just up the road from St Mark’s (and where the Church Cat receives her excellent care), is kindly sponsoring the publicity for the services. You can contact them on 01252 718128 or visit www.castlevetsltd.co.uk/

“We decided to hold the service on October 3rd as it is a day which celebrates St Francis of Assisi who was known for his love of and care for animals and is often depicted with them,” says Rev’d Lesley Crawley. “We want to celebrate the joy of our pets as part of God’s creation, and give thanks for what they give to us. For many people having a pet is an enormous comfort and can help our mental health by reducing stress and anxiety. They can also be great companions especially to people who are on their own.

“We expect the services to be chaotic and great fun, so please come along!”

So bring your pet, and celebrate. You may just find yourself singing ‘All God’s creatures got a place in the choir’!

Picture by Hannah Lim on Unsplash.

Inclusion, LGBTI+, Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Pride services at all our Churches

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This Sunday (August 8) we are celebrating Pride at all of our three churches and online, here on the website.

Like Pride Month, which takes place in June, it is an opportunity to celebrate LGBTQI+ people in their fullness, to look back on strides toward equality, and to imagine a world where celebration and full inclusion is the norm, not an exception. 

Lesley Crawley explains some of the thinking behind this: “Christians have historically punished and ostracized LGBTQI+ people, scripture has been weaponized and the church has contributed to the political, relational and spiritual dehumanizing of LGBTQI+ people. This has resulted in deep pain, bullying and death and rightfully many people have been put off the church forever because of the cruel behaviour of Christians. 

“As Christians, we give up a piece of our full humanity when we forgo compassion and treat people as objects worthy of scorn or violence. Pride gives us an opportunity to end oppressive practices and ideology while also becoming more fully human ourselves. 

“In these services we repent of the past and we look with optimism to the future. We stand with people who identify as LGBTQI+ and proclaim loudly that all people are loved by God and all people are welcome here.

“We thank God for the immense diversity of human beings and the love God has for us all. We recognise the way stereotypes have limited us all in terms of being able to be truly ourselves. We celebrate love in all its forms and we thank the God of Love that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Please join us this Sunday. There is a service at St John’s Church, Lower Hale, at 9.30am, one at St George’s, Badshot Lea, at 10am, and one at St Mark’s, Upper Hale, at 11am. And, of course, we are online too: https://badshotleaandhale.org/online-services/

* LGBTQI+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex and the ‘+’ is for others who don’t fit one of these labels

Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Say Thank you this Sunday

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We’re joining in national Thank You Day this Sunday, July 4. People around the country are gathering to show their gratitude to those who have helped us so much over the pandemic and we are holding Thank You services in each of the churches with special visitors from across Farnham.

Join us at St John’s at 9.30am, St George’s at 10am and St Mark’s at 11am.

Among those also joining us will be Alan Earwaker, Mayor of Farnham, and Catherine Powell, Surrey Councillor for North Farnham, who will all be at St John’s; Gemma Ball, head of Badshot Lea Village Infant School, Alex Hayhoe from the Hygiene Bank and Iain McCready from Farnham Town Council who will be at St George’s; and Cathy Burroughs, manager of Hale Community Centre, Daniel Gee, head of content for the Farnham Herald, Alastair Shanks from Right at Home care agency, and Pat Evans, former Mayor of Farnham, who will be at St Mark’s. They will be talking about the community in the past 18 months, the future as they see it and what they are thankful for.

There will be opportunities to express your own thanks and make thank-you cards.

Please join us and say thank you too.

For further information, call 07842761919 or email admin@badshotleaandhale.org

Children and Youth, Events, Social Events, St George's Church

Come to the Community Fete

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We  are very excited to be able to host the Badshot Lea Community Fete on 3rd July at St. George’s from 12-4pm.

We will be having a barbecue and refreshments, including cream teas.   Due to the restrictions still in place, everyone eating or drinking will need to be seated – so it is lucky we have lots of lawn.  It should be a lovely atmosphere on the beautiful summer grass. 

Sadly, the restrictions mean that the children of Badshot Lea Village School are unable to perform for us but hopefully this will not stop them coming along and enjoying everything on offer.  We are delighted to have partnered with the Tice’s Meadow Birders group, who will have an exhibition,  Badshot Bloomers, with their exciting news about a new Community Garden and the Community Association.  The Sea Cadets will be present and letting people know what goes on in their organisation and the Working Men’s Club will also be represented.  Nibbs Gin are producing flyers which will include interesting discounts.

As a new incentive this year, we have invited small businesses to hire a spot in the car park to sell their wares – so there will artists, wax melts, Usborne Books, bath bombs, hand and face creams, children’s bits and bobs, fudge, calligraphy, craft items, our very own ‘Home Produce’ and a good-as-new toy stall.  We also have a children’s ‘Tea Cup’ ride.

Don’t forget our Summer Grand Draw with a first prize of £100; tickets are already on sale. We are also running a bottle tombola and a more general tombola.  (Any donations gratefully received).

We are all looking forward to a great afternoon of eating, having fun in the sun and coming together as a community.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Children and Youth, Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Join us for Father’s Day!

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It’s Father’s Day this Sunday, June 20, and we invite you to join us at any of our three churches for a celebration and focus on dads, grandads and other special men who have been important to us in our lives.

Join us at St John’s, Hale, at 9.30am, for a service followed by free brunch, or St Mark’s, Upper Hale, at 11am where brunch will be served during the service, or St George’s, Badshot Lea, at 10am where dads can have a beer after church! Cheers to Dads!

Want to know more? Call us on 07842761919 or email admin@badshotleaandhale.org

Picture by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.

Art, Church Buildings, Events, Giving and Fundraising, magazine, music, News Releases, Prayer, Schools, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

The June Magazine is here

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The sun is out and so is the June magazine! This month’s magazine is packed full of news and events about our parish which isn’t confined to the villages we serve locally – lovely though they all are! Being online has allowed us to reach out far further and welcome people who can’t be with us physically.

Take the flower festival for instance. Among the 300+ entries were ones from friends of the parish from around the country. Take a look at some of the entries in the magazine and, of course, online.

There’s news of upcoming events – Father’s Day’s an important one as is the fete on July 3 – new classes, new rooms, a new business, our new youth hub, the new mayor and North Farnham councillor, along with lots more including Kitty Milroy and her media-starring murals, prayer, Jeremy Hunt, appeals for help, schools news, the Church Cat and more.

Enjoy reading and enjoy the sun.

Download the magazine here:

June 2021
Events, Giving and Fundraising, St George's Church

Plant Sale

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Can you spare some plants? Do you want some plants for your garden? Then our plant sale is for you!

Instead of a plant stall at the fete on July 3, we are holding a plant on Saturday, May 29, in the grounds of St George’s Church.

This is to raise funds for the whole parish so please support us.

Divide your perennials or dig up the plant which is in the wrong place and bring your offerings along just before 10am please. The sale will last from 10am to midday.

If you have no plants to offer and don’t wish to buy any please make a donation to parish funds instead.

On the day lack of cash is not a problem – bring along your credit card as we have card readers to take your money!

Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Christian Aid Week

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As it is Christian Aid week 9-15th May. The Franham Clergy have joined together to create an online Christian Aid Week Service:

We cannot collect door to door for Christian Aid so here is the clickable link for online giving for Christian Aid Week 2021:

https://giving.tapsimple.org/online/christian-aid/christian-aid-week-2021-bf4b3

Events, Inclusion, magazine, outreach, Pastoral Care, Prayer, Social Events, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church, support

The May magazine is here

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Our May magazine is out now, a bumper edition this month with information about the elections for Surrey County Council members and the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner. Please read their statements and please vote; if we don’t bother to have a say we can hardly complain about the people who are elected.

There is information too about events going on this month including our Farnham Flower Festival (online again, of course) which is being sponsored by our favourite florist Florescence, and plans for the fete in July. Please get involved in both. There is news about new rooms to hire, an article on grief, information about taking part in Christian Aid Week and much more, plus, of course, lots of great adverts with services, offers and classes.

Download it here:

May 21Download