Before our world was changed through COVID-19 we were able to enjoy the Mayors Variety Show on Saturday 14^th March at Crondall Village Hall.  And for all sorts of reasons I was so glad we did – it was fun, it took our mind off the looming crisis and raised much needed resources for both ourselves and Space2Grow – the Mayor’s two chosen charities of the year.  It was, as the title suggests, an evening of variety.  We were treated to the rousing songs of the Suffletunes choir, the talents of the Carrington family on piano, oboe, cello and the 4-year old on percussion, young dramatists from Theatre Rocket putting on a memorable performance with a ten year old girl brilliantly performing ‘my old man said follow the van ….’ and monologues from ex Farnham Town Crier, Jonathan Jones.  The finale was a ‘sing-along’ led by Sue Lampard and Geoff Hiscott, who together were responsible for choreographing and compering the evening.

Part way through we all enjoyed a fish and chip supper with a chocolate ice cream to follow.

The Mayor of Farnham, Councillor Pat Evans, who hosted the evening says: “This is the first time we have held a variety show and what a fantastic success it was. It was a wonderful evening for the local community to be together.”  Agreed.

Taking into account ticket sales, bar and raffle, the evening raised £1,000 for the two charities who will be in need of this once we are through this period of national emergency.

We want to wish you all the best and please do come and see us once this is all over: we will have to find another way of celebrating together

Farnham in Bloom have launched two competitions:-

Lego garden challenge - create your perfect garden or veg patch out of Lego. Email in your photographs of your lego creation to bloom@farnham.gov.uk and we will pick a winner.

Virtual Hanging basket competition... fancy making up a hanging basket and entering our virtual hanging basket competition? Email a photo of your finished hanging basket and attach a description of the plants used and how you have looked after it, along with your name and age.

The baskets should be looking lovely in June so the deadline for entries will be 30 June 2020. Please send entries to bloom@farnham.gov.uk and the Mayor will judge your hanging basket with the winners being announced in the autumn.

With the cancellation of the Bloomin’ Kids workshops, Farnham in Bloom have come up with a few activities that children can get involved in during the school closure.

1. Why not research a famous artist online and then try to recreate one of their paintings? Favourites are Kandinsky, Mondrian, Van Gogh and Matisse.
2. Or create a nature art piece in the garden, either on the grass or a patio. Arrange collected leaves, flowers and grass to create your artwork.

Creating a seed bomb is a perfect activity to do if you have some wildflower seeds.

The Community Centre has joined as an organisation that can offer help and support.

We are sorry to have to tell you that we have taken the decision to close the Community Centre until further notice in light of the governments new restrictions to keep us all safe and healthy.
You can contact us by mobile or email during this time

Phone 07471 180958

Email  halecommunitycentre@gmail.com

A beautiful Spring⁽¹⁾ morning was the order of the day today for the first get together of our Adult Gardening Group for 2020.

To kick start their new season, our regular volunteers hosted a coffee morning to facilitate welcoming new volunteers to the group and draw up plans for this year’s growing season.

Work in earnest begins at the weekend, when John, Alan and friends will start to dig over the raised beds ensuring the ground is in good condition for the coming season. Gardeners of old would say that digging the soil means you start the new growing season with a clean plot!

The Adult Gardening Volunteers will be at the Centre every Tuesday from the 17^th March - 10:00 am to 12:00 noon. Anyone wanting to come along and join the group can be assured of a warm welcome – no experience necessary just a willingness to get involved and help support our garden.

⁽¹⁾ Meteorological seasons are instead based on the annual temperature cycle and measure the meteorological state, as well as coinciding with the calendar to determine a clear transition between the seasons.

The meteorological seasons consist of splitting the seasons into four periods made up of three months each. These seasons are split to coincide with our Gregorian calendar, making it easier for meteorological observing and forecasting to compare seasonal and monthly statistics. By the meteorological calendar, spring will always start on 1 March: ending on 31 May.