Tag Archives: Farnham Literary Festival

Events, Farnham Literary Festival, Lent, magazine, poetry

Your March magazine is here

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Welcome to March, to Spring, to Lent.

We are entering a busy, hopefully warmer, time of year in the church calendar. This month, Lent begins and with that our preparations for Easter. Many of us use this time to reflect on our relationship with our loving God and seek to draw nearer to God through prayer, meditation and study. Joining a Lent group can help with this and there are several in the parish – see inside the magazine for further details.

Inside you will also find news and details of events such as the Farnham Poetry Competition Awards Evening and Open Mic, Draw Farnham at St Mark’s, our Easter Craft Market and Easter egg hunt, Top 10 Hymns/Worship Songs and much more.

Please do have a look inside, and don’t forget our advertisers. Check them out and if you use them, don’t forget to tell them where you saw their advert. They help us by placing their ads with us so we want to help them.

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Children and Youth, poetry, St Mark's Church

And the winners are…

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The Farnham Poetry Competition, part of the Farnham Literary Festival, attracted more than 120 entries from across the country, all writing on the theme of Friendship.

The oldest entrant, whom we know about at least, was 96, the youngest was just four and, once again, we were awed by the talent and creativity of the entrants.

There were two categories: Under-16s, judged by poet Coral Rumble, and adults, judged by poet Linda Daruvala, and the results are:

Under-16. Highly Commended:

Emily Teuten – My Big Sister
Peggy Wingham – My love recipe
Sienna Law and Tilly Wild – Friendship is something no-one can take
Bea Timewell – You and I are sun and moon
Zahra Rafiq – A poem of friendship
Hugo De Gruchy Webster – Friends are big, friends are small
Scarlett Harwick and Bella Lister – Friendship is like nature
Charlotte Keleher – One thing can change the world
Zoran Stimson – True friends, Always disagree
Dolcie Jennings – I am Dolcie and I am 4

Third prize: Emily Tarrant – Peapods

Second prize: Salimata Gassama – Fractured Bonds

Winner: Jet Pariera-Jenks – Digital Friendships 

To read the top three prize-winners, click here.

Adults:

Highly Commended

Vinnie McGuire – Locked In A Van
Kate Kennington Steer – Visitation
Elly Jones – Exactly What She Deserves
Victoria D’Cruz – Artistic Licence
Ella Zubeidi – Adrift
Lisette Abrahams – Marking The Miles
Vicky Lowe – A Solitary Word

Third Prize: Kay Wadham – Farewell

Second Prize: Liz Kendall – She’s Never Seen The Mummy

Winner: Nicole Coward – These Are The Women

To read the top three prize-winners, click here.

Thank you to all our entrants and look out for further information about poetry at St Mark’s Church soon.

Events, magazine, music, poetry, Social Events

Your February Magazine is here

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Your February magazine is out now. Inside you will find a farewell to Lesley and Alan, news about the vacancy, events including our Snowman Drive – the seasonal equivalent of a beetle drive (well, it’s too cold for beetles) and a free Valentine’s Barn Dance. We also explore where Valentine’s Day comes from and what is this thing called love.

There’s also news about the latest Farnham Poetry Competition which the parish runs as part of the Farnham Literary Festival. This year the theme is friendship, so why not celebrate your friends and give it a go.

Don’t forget our wonderful advertisers while you are browsing. They help keep our magazine going, so please check them out, use them and support local businesses.

Happy reading!

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poetry, St Mark's Church

The Farnham Poetry Competition returns

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The Poetry of Friendship

The Farnham Poetry Competition is returning, run once more by the parish as part of the Farnham Literary Festival which runs this year between March 1 and 10.

This year, the theme is friendship and adults and children alike are invited to write a poem on friendship: what it means to us, who our friends are, why we like them, why friends are important, anything to do with friendship.

There is a children’s competition, open to under-16s, and an adult one and all poems should be sent by email to poetry@badshotleaandhale.org or by post to Farnham Poetry Competition, St Mark’s Church, Alma Lane, Farnham, GU9 0LT, to arrive by 5pm on Friday, February 23.

The children’s poetry competition is being judged by poet Coral Rumble and the adult one by poet Linda Daruvala.  The competition is free to enter and there will be prizes for the first prize-winners and runners-up in both categories. The winners will be announced at the poetry final evening on Saturday, March 9, at St Mark’s Church at 5pm, when there will also be an open mic for anyone to share their poetry, and the two judges will also perform their work.

Linda Daruvala
Coral Rumble

Stella Wiseman, who is leading the organisation of the competition, said: “We are so pleased to be running the competition again. There is a huge amount of talent out there exhibited by people of all ages and backgrounds and I am really looking forward to this year’s entries and to see what people make of the theme of friendship. We chose it because friendship is vital to our wellbeing. Humans are social beings and we need each other. I think this is something that lockdown emphasised for us all and we are still living with the effects of those months. So let’s celebrate friendship this year!

“We are delighted to have our old friend Coral Rumble back again to judge the under-16s entries and to welcome Linda Daruvala to judge the adults. They will both be performing at the poetry awards evening on March 9 at St Mark’s and are well worth seeing live.”

Farnham Literary Festival, St Mark's Church

Poetry competition – deadline extended

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You’ve now got until February 28 to write A Poem for Farnham and enter it into our poetry competition which is forming part of the inaugural Farnham Literary Festival.

Take part in the competition and you could win £25 and be invited to our poetry evening on Saturday, March 12 at St Mark’s Church.

There is a children’s competition, open to under-16s, and an adult one, and all you have to do is write a poem about Farnham – what it means to you, what you like or dislike, what the town feels like to you, its history, its people… anything you want to write which means Farnham to you. The winner in each category will be awarded £25 and two runners-up in each category will be awarded £10 each.

Then send it in to us to reach us by 5pm on Monday, February 28. Send your entries by email to poetry@badshotleaandhale.org or by post to Poetry Competition, St Mark’s Church and Community Centre, Alma Lane, Farnham, GU9 0LT.

There is no word limit, but entries should be typed, double-spaced.

The children’s poetry competition is being judged by poet Coral Rumble and the adult one by poet Ellora Sutton.

Coral Rumble is an award-winning poet specialising in writing and performing for children. She has had four poetry collections published, with Things that Should be in a Poem out soon. Her verse novel Little Light was published last year and she has also written picture books and for children’s TV. You can find her at www.coralrumble.co.uk and she tweets @RumbleCoral.

Ellora Sutton, she/her, is a queer poet, museum professional, and critic. Her work has been published in the Poetry Review, Interpreter’s House, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, fourteen poems and Poetry News, amongst others. She reviews poetry for Mslexia. She tweets @ellora_sutton, or you can find her at ellorasutton.com.

To find out more about the Farnham Literary Festival at St Mark’s click here, and to find out more about events at other places, click here.

Farnham Literary Festival

Could you write A Poem for Farnham?

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Enter our poetry competition which is being run in conjunction with the inaugural Farnham Literary Festival which is being held across Farnham between March 5th and 13th.

Take part in the competition and you could find yourself reading your poem at a poetry evening on Saturday, March 12th at St Mark’s Church.

There is a children’s competition, open to under-16s, and an adult one, and all you have to do is write a poem about Farnham – what it means to you, what you like or dislike, what the town feels like to you, its history, its people… anything you want to write which means Farnham to you.

Then send it in to us to reach us by 5pm on Monday, February 14th. Send your entries by email to poetry@badshotleaandhale.org or by post to Poetry Competition, St Mark’s Church and Community Centre, Alma Lane, Farnham, GU9 0LT.

There is no word limit, but entries should be typed, double-spaced.

The children’s poetry competition is being judged by poet Coral Rumble and the adult one by poet Ellora Sutton.

Coral Rumble is an award-winning poet specialising in writing and performing for children. She has had four poetry collections published, with Things that Should be in a Poem out soon. Her verse novel Little Light was published last year and she has also written picture books and for children’s TV. You can find her at www.coralrumble.co.uk and she tweets @RumbleCoral.

Coral Rumble

Ellora Sutton, she/her, is a queer poet, museum professional, and critic. Her work has been published in the Poetry Review, Interpreter’s House, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, fourteen poems and Poetry News, amongst others. She reviews poetry for Mslexia. She tweets @ellora_sutton, or you can find her at ellorasutton.com.

Ellora Sutton