Spring is here and so is the April parish magazine.
Check inside for information about Holy Week and Easter, plus the results of the Farnham Poetry Competition, news from Badshot Lea, the Church Cat and much more.
Picture by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.
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.
I have thousands of friends and likers
And all of them follow me
As if I am the coolest girl in class
Instead of little nobody.
I have thousands of subscribers and followers
As if I am the latest trend
Even though I’ve never met half of them
I’m proud to have so many friends.
Or should I call them strangers?
They could be anyone
I don’t know all their names
Or even where they’re from.
My friends could be any age
Are they older than I guessed?
I think I should be more cautious
When I’m sent a friend request.
We exchange ‘laters’ and ‘lols’ through texter
Our messages are emojis and GIFs
I have thousands of friends and strangers
In my digital friendships.
To see Jet perform her poem, click below.
I stand on the threshold of adulthood, A time of transition, a turbulent flood. Friends once close now drift away, Leaving me with memories, stark and gray.
Adrift in a sea of changing tides, I cling to what once was, where my heart resides.
The laughter, the tears, the shared dreams we spun, Now shattered like glass in the setting sun.Â
An allusion to youth, a fleeting sigh, As ambition drives us to reach for the sky. But in this journey of growing apart, Anxiety grips as it clutches my heart.
Yet courage whispers amidst the fear, Friendship’s essence ever clear. For in abandonment’s cruel sting, True bonds emerge with resilient wings.
 Freedom found in letting go, Embracing what comes, letting new friendships grow. So here I stand, on life’s grand stage, Understanding now, through wisdom’s gage.
‘Like two peas in a pod’ – what they say to inseparable friends, and young lovers.
But some pea pods, the peas are detached, and the friendship is broken.
Some peas, they quibble and quarrel in their pods.
Some peas, are happy and chuckle and grin.
Some peas, leave the pod before you take it in.
Some peas, go nasty, foul and rotten.
Some peas, yet difficult, are best left forgotten.
Such is the life of friendship and love,
Such is the life, of peas and pods.
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!
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.
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.”
Your April magazine is out now, full of information, news and views, including what is happening this Holy Week as we approach Easter. There are details about Holy Week meditations, Good Friday and Easter services and a Good Friday Walk of Witness, as well as events after Easter. Did you know we are organising a Gin Evening with local distiller Nibbs Gin? And we have a quiz evening coming up too, plus a plant sale, a Christian Aid concert and much more!
You can also read the winning poems in the Farnham Poetry Competition, hear about Open the Book, and find out what groups like the WI are doing. There is prayer and some thoughts from the Ministry Team and the Church Cat!
You can find the magazine here:
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 