The Party in the Church (grounds) on August 11 was great fun. There were lots of families there, a barbecue, cakes and mocktails and a super atmosphere. In all we raised about £250 towards the St. George’s heating fund.
Many thanks to all those who helped make it a great success.
Maxine Everitt
A Celtic Service
God above us – trees, birds and sunshine, stars and moonlight – God above us.
God within us – hope, tears and laughter, love and wonder – God within us.
A few weeks ago I was chatting with my son about the Celtic service at St George’s I was going to be taking part in, with Wendy Edwards and Dave and Helena Walker. As a joke – I think – he asked Is that where you paint your face blue and dance around with no clothes on?”
I said that was not what we would be doing and he seemed disappointed ! However it did make me think that other people may have similar ideas.
So to reassure everyone, on Saturday, July 14 at 5pm, 22 of us met in the garden of St. George’s for a Celtic Service. The weather and setting were just right.
Wendy led our worship beautifully with words and prayers, and told us how she found God at the bottom of her garden. Helena and Dave prepared an area for us do do various art activities, and brought a large Celtic cross they had painted.
We sang some familiar hymns and some new songs and sang The Lord’s Prayer to the tune of Auld Lang Syne.
Afterwards we all stayed to chat over refreshments of shortbread, Welsh cakes and homemade fruit bread, with tea and coffee.
It was a beautiful service. Thank you Wendy. I look forward to the next one.
Margaret Emberson
PS And we did NOT paint our faces blue and dance around with no clothes on!
For outside we gathered (on July 8) for a Teddy Bears’ – and all sorts of cuddly friends’ – picnic. While they sat and made friends, we spoke about how we can tell our teddies all of our innermost secrets, confess what we have done wrong and know that they will always love us, a bit like God! As we get older, we learn more and our view of our teddy changes. As we grow up, our view of God changes too. We have opportunities to grow in our spiritual commitment and come closer to the Lord. Our choir sang the ‘Gloria’ – you can see them in the picture – and sang hymns and had a lovely time together. We finished off with non-alcoholic ‘Pimms’ and cakes.
Maxine Everitt
The ministry team in the parish has grown again. With the licensing of Wendy and Craig as Licensed Lay Ministers (LLMs) last Saturday the team has grown to three full-time clergy, three LLMs and two retired clergy who still conduct services, preach and carry out pastoral work in the parish.
Wendy Edwards and Craig Nobbs were both licensed to the parish by the Bishop of Guildford, the Right Rev’d Andrew Watson in a service at St Paul’s, Dorking.
Wendy, the daughter of renowned local journalists Ted Parratt and the late Jean Parratt, started her training in Southwark, but returned to her childhood home of Farnham in 2017, following her mother’s death the previous year, and continued her training with the Diocese of Guildford.
“I returned to the church in 2007 after a very difficult time in my life, and I felt a calling to ministry but it was too early,” she said. “The feeling came again at the end of 2013 and I started exploring it and began my training in 2014. Licensed Lay Ministry is a preaching and teaching ministry in a pastoral context and I will have a particular funeral ministry. In my previous job I worked as a chartered legal executive specialising in wills and probate. I always supported people around the time of deaths in the family through the legal side and felt a call to support them through ministry.”
Wendy will be particularly attached to St John’s, Hale, the church she chose to go to when she returned to Farnham, in part because she had been a bridesmaid there twice in the late 1960s.
Craig Nobbs was already an LLM when he moved to Farnham 18 months ago but was licensed to another parish and wanted to continue his ministry in his new home. He has been relicensed to the Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale and his ministry will mostly be at St George’s, Badshot Lea.
Speaking after the service Craig said: “The service was out of this world and an affirmation of what I am doing in the parish. This parish is one with a big heart. During the licensing service I was conscious of waves of love from both the parish and from God himself. What kept going through my mind was a line ‘Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven’ (from the hymn Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven), as that has been my experience.”
Craig’s ministry will mostly be at the weekend as he works full-time in London as a Whitehall civil servant taking a lead in educational policy.
Lesley Crawley added: “We are delighted and blessed to have both Wendy and Craig with us and look forward to their continuing ministry as the parish grows and seeks to express the love of God in our community”.
On 11th August, from 12.00, St George’s Church, Badshot Lea, join us for a fun afternoon (hopefully in the sun!) BBQ, mocktails, soft drinks, teas, games for everyone, young and old – a bit of music, a chance to relax. (If you’d rather have something a bit stronger to drink then please feel free to bring your own.) Open to all. Tickets £1 from Maxine – 01252 318135 – mainly so we have an idea of numbers. All proceeds to St. George’s heating fund. (If it does rain, we will be literally in the church 😃)
Come to St George’s on 8 July 11:30-12:15 for a special service and Teddy Bears’ Picnic. All teddies and other favourite characters very welcome.
The sun shone for us on 9th June — indeed it was almost too hot at times in the morning—and many willing hands helped to get the church grounds looking festive and inviting by 12 noon, when the Fete was officially opened. For the next 3 hours trading was brisk at the various stalls, and there were plenty of games and activities to keep the young, and not so young, amused. Entertainment was provided by the Maypole dancers from Badshot Lea School, and the band from TS Swiftsure. The Mayor of Farnham, our local councillor, David Attfield, spent some time with us, and drew the tickets for the Grand Raffle. By the end of the afternoon there were a lot of extremely weary people.
The refreshment team, under the expert organisation of Gillian Hyman, were rushed off their feet, as were the barbecue trio, with head chef Martin Reed. Maxine Everitt had once again, with her usual calm efficiency, planned and prepared the event, very ably assisted by her support team. After the first count it seems that approx. £2,600 had been raised, a good increase on last year’s figure. Many thanks to all those who worked so hard for the event, whether unseen in the kitchen or vestry, on the stalls, or helping to set up and clear away.
Margaret Dyer
Yesterday nine new swift homes were added at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea. This was organised by Colin Wilson of the Blackwater Valley Countryside Trust. The boxes were built and installed by Paul Mascall and Peter Robertson, local carpenters who gave up their working time to help us.
Soon they hope to install a sound system to attract the swifts that were flying over their heads as the boxes were being installed. Colin says that “In the small churchyard there are many sparrows so there may be a battle next year for the spaces!”
We are incredibly grateful for those who gave their time to help install these boxes. Swifts need our help in finding nesting sites and hopefully nine families of swifts will soon be making use of their new homes. Thanks to to Bill Thomas, our churchwarden, who organised it all.
St George’s is an Eco-church and we want to do all we can to care for God’s creation.
Lesley Crawley
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The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 