Category: Parishioner

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Help is at hand! Useful numbers

Here are some of the useful numbers you may need if you need support in Ash Vale. If you think we are missing a number please let us know.

Local Churches:

St Mary’s, Ash Vale – 07863 311165 (Parish Administrator’s Mobile)

The Chapel, Ash Vale –  07730 609446 (Project Manager’s Mobile)

St Peter’s, Ash – 01252 331161

Holy Angels, Ash – 01252 321422

St Paul’s, Tongham – 01252 782790

Local help and support during the Covid-19 crisis:

Ash, Ash Vale & Ash Green Coronavirus Support group (volunteers doing shopping & prescription runs & emergency  food parcels)  – 07843 489796

Ash Parish Council – 01252 328 287

Ash Citizens Advice  –  01252 315569 or 01252 314711

Ash Vale Health Centre – 01252 317551 (Out of hours phone 111, in an emergency dial 999)

Guildford Borough Council Covid-19 Community Helpline – 01483 444400

Community Wellbeing Team – 07769 642053 / 07901 513652

Safe & Settled Team  – 01483 444476 for those needing help at home on arriving back from hospital or needing some help to manage at home.

If you need to talk to someone : national helplines

Samaritans (24/7 service) – 116 123 or text SHOUT 85258

National Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0808 2000 247    www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/ (run by Refuge)
The Men’s Advice Line, for male domestic abuse survivors – 0808 801 0327
The Mix, free information/support for under 25s in the UK – 0808 808 4994
National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0800 999 5428

PAPYRUS—Young suicide prevention society,  0800 068 4141

Childline for children 0800 1111

Alcoholics Anonymous — 0800 917 7650 (24/7)

Narcotics Anonymous — 0300 999 1212

Cruse Bereavement Care — 0808 808 1677

Contacting The Parishioner:

Call Alex 07730 609446 in the first instance and she will put you in touch with the right volunteer parishioner@ash-vale.org.uk

Donations: Did you know? You can now ’Give a Little’ online to support St Mary’s Church and all the work we do. We very much need and appreciate your support in these difficult times. https://givealittle.co/campaigns/47eb21e6-c2b0-4a23-a526-8d13fd24fa56

Thank you!

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Harvest Home 2021

Early Autumn is hard work for the farmer, the allotmenteer and the home gardener alike. It’s harvesting time. For the non-professionals there are beans and more beans, courgettes by the millions until one becomes sick and tired of ratatouille, produce to go into the freezer: jams, chutneys, pickles and damson gin to make. It’s hard work time all round, but enjoyable as the fruits of the harvest are sorted and stored for the winter and the harder times ahead. The Harvest Home is a collective sigh of relief at a job well done leading to many a sore head the morning after.

But there is a sadness in the air too, as the plots are cleared the compost bins start to fill up and the ground becomes a little bare unless planted with green manure crops or one of the overwintering spring vegetables. We can plan and re-plan what we would like to do, but in reality we are blithely ignorant of what nature has in store in the future. For the moment we can enjoy our ignorance by studying the plant/seed catalogues and dreaming of next year’s extra special crops for as the saying goes,

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, today is the present, accept it as a gift”.

But this Autumn there is more uncertainty than usual, the effects of Covid 19 and Brexit (I refuse to “do a rant” about either) are still working their way through the system and there have been warnings of commercial shortages ahead. However, what can be said is that very little can be expected to return to what was “normal” before and we are just going to have to get used to it.

Some students have found on-line learning superior to face to face learning; office workers especially, have discovered how they can successfully perform their jobs in the spare room or the garden shed; online shopping is causing a revolution on the High Street; Zoom has entered the English lexicon and many a meeting has been held with the participants sitting at home in comfortable surroundings (with good biscuits and a cup of coffee/tea) instead of round a board room table with uncomfortable “sit up and beg” chairs with knees bashing the table legs, (this may or may not lead to better decisions being taken).

So Harvest Festival 2021 is going to be a real oddball.  For many of us, besides the happiness of the Harvest Home, there is the sadness of the memories of friends and relations who are no longer with us.  We may not have even been able to attend the funerals in person to close the relationships and that can hurt.  We can but pray and hope that the mystery that is tomorrow will give both us and those around us the chance to re-set our lives from hereon in.

Scrivener

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Shoebox time!

St. Peter’s church in Ash will be filling shoeboxes for Christmas to send a little love to children through Operation Christmas Child. If you would like to help by making up a box or donating items please bring them to St. Peter’s Church, leave them by the Rectory door or at 50, South Lane, Ash. We will be collecting until 1st November. A list of suitable toys, school supplies etc. can be found on the website. It would be great if we could be a little greener this year by buying things like wooden pencil crayons, yoyos and wooden handled skipping ropes or wind up torches and solar powered calculators. Thank you 

Barbara Rose 07761808727

https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/
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Local Action for Refugees

Here are just a few of the ways you can help…

Donations: Farnham Help for refugees in the UK & Overseas are collecting donations in October. Check their Facebook page for details of what items are needed and where to take them. There is a drop-off point in Farnham at Anytime Fitness  where you can drop off donations at any time. Most needed are: New men’s boxers and socks (size s/m) and warm clothes, coats, t-shirts, shoes, joggers and essential toiletries. (See the facebook page online for more)

Housing: As more refugees are welcomed in to the area, housing will be needed so that families can move out of emergency accommodation. Council housing cannot be used for this, so private rental housing is needed. The diocese are hoping to help find more landlords willing to house refugee families. If you have a property you would be willing to let, to help a family, please get in touch. Diane.peters@cofeguildford.org.uk

Volunteering: Volunteers are also much needed, as an essential part of settling in, sorting paperwork and becoming part of the local community. If you can offer help with lifts, appointments, paperwork and befriending please get in touch Diane.peters@cofeguildford.org.uk

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Autumn Challenge

By Steph Farry

It can be so hard to say goodbye to the golden days of summer. Even if your day to day life doesn’t change much over July and August, there’s a sense of freedom and opportunity that can be missing from the other seasons.

If you’re looking for ways to find joy in the shortening days and misty mornings, why not try this autumn challenge? There are twenty activities to help celebrate the special pleasures of this time of year. You could even challenge a friend to complete them, and share pictures to show how you’re getting on! We do this each year, and it’s lovely to see our friends out on their adventures. Our rules are that you have to do the challenge in order, there’s no time limit on each activity, and you can switch activities as long as you keep to the ‘feel’ of the original (for instance, don’t drink cider? Try an apple juice, or pear cordial!).

1. Go outside, smell the air, and set an intention to enjoy the new season.

2. Pick up a conker, or a handful of acorns, and put them somewhere you’ll see often.

3. Bake something autumnal (eg pumpkin bread).

4. Drink some cider.

5. Watch a film or TV programme with an autumn ‘feel’ (eg Gilmore Girls, You Got Mail, Mona Lisa Smile, Casper).

6. Make a ‘happiness capsule’ with some treats or special memory items, to open if you need a boost of joy later in the season – or better still, make one for someone else!

7. Make an autumn craft (eg a leaf wreath, wooden wind chime, pinecone creatures), or put up some fairy lights.

8. Do a random act of kindness.

9. Plant some bulbs for spring.

10. Make and listen to an autumn themed playlist.

11. Mess about in some fallen leaves.

12. Practice loving kindness meditation.

13. Cuddle up with a cosy blanket and a book.

14. Clear out some old clothes to donate to charity.

15. Do a puzzle or crossword.

16. Find a really beautiful autumn tree.

17. Make or buy an autumn themed hot drink

18. Cook a stew.

19. Knit something (choose a small project!).

20. Drink hot chocolate under the stars.

Share your pictures with us on Facebook @StMarysashVale and @AshValeChapel #AutumnChallenge

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Remembering Ada Young

By Nikki Glover

As Church Warden, one of my duties is taking care of the church and organising clean-up days indoors and out. Our team of helpers have been busy  sprucing up the area around Ada’s memorial stone, and I wanted to find out a bit about her and share it with you all, so she is remembered in our community. Here is what I was able to find out:

Ada Francis Young was born on January the 1st 1899, the second child of Edward and Francis young of 87 Heath vale bridge road. On February 15th 1899 she was baptised in the tin church that used to be on this site called the mission of St Mary. 

Her father was a cab proprietor and had a boarding stables and also employed his brother. The  Ash Vale hotel was 3 properties away and her father and uncle would have been quite busy driving the handsome cab to and from the train station collecting passengers.

By 1911 the family and business had moved to 11 station road in Ash Vale, and Ada now had 6 siblings, on October 2nd 1911, her older brother Edwin joined the navy. In 1915 able seaman Edwin Young was sent to Gosport for torpedo training on H.M.S Vernon. Tragically, on September 10th 1915 he died in an accidental explosion when a charge exploded prematurely. Ada then became the eldest child with all the responsibility that that entails. She was courting a young man who also served and unfortunately died during the Great War. So much tragedy for an 18 year old girl to deal with, but she became a nurse and served throughout the war.

Ada loved music, particularly hymns, and she actually paid for our church organ. She was very busy within church life, and I like to believe that this helped heal her grieving heart, for she never married and never spoke about her brother or fiancé to anyone that I could find. 

She was very good at getting others to do what she wanted and I would call her a woman of strong morals and faith. She loved wild flowers and liked to look through her book naming them all.

When she died on October 2nd 1987, Ada left a very large bequest to St Mary’s, which has helped us for many years. This memorial stone is a very small token of remembrance for a remarkably lived life.

If you have memories of St Mary’s in years gone by, why not send them in? We would love to hear your stories. Email

parishioner@ash-vale.org.uk  or pop in for a chat. 

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An update on the ‘Save the Ranges’ campaign

By Tim Jones

You may have seen news about the Save the Ranges campaign in a previous special edition of The Parishioner. We reached out to the team for an update, and here is the latest news:

Back in May, we were copied on a letter from Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt & Jonathan Lord (our local MPs) to Jeremy Quin (The Minister of State for Defence Procurement) and to our surprise, the letter suggested that the MPs totally understood our position and were also questioning the validity of the reasons the DIO had provided for closing the ranges. However, the good feeling was short lived as nothing happened before the parliamentary recess and despite follow up emails from the campaigners there’s been no further response from any of the MPs nor Jeremy Quin.

Not to be disheartened, we took our campaign to the national press in July. Beginning with an article in the Guardian & Observer, which empathised with the local people about what has been taken away from them. Off the back of that article, we were contacted by BBC South Today who wanted a segment for their evening news. This aired on August 5th and featured interviews with people involved with the campaign as well as an excellent soundbite from Neil Lambert, barely able to contain his frustration about the issue and how it’s been handled by the politicians. There has since been further press coverage of the issue via BBC Radio Surrey and Private Eye magazine.

Thanks to the press coverage, we received sufficient donations to be able to start the legal proceeding to get a clearer view on the legality of the closure. Many thanks to those who have donated. Any unused funds collected will be donated to the charity : Help for Heroes

Tim Jones – https://saveourspaces.co.uk/  

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Age UK Surrey and Guildford Borough Council celebrate over 25 years of Shopmobility in Guildford

We are celebrating over 25 years of Shopmobility!  Shopmobility located on Level 3, Bedford Road Car Park, Guildford, is a service run by Age UK Surrey with support by Guildford Borough Council.  A wide selection of manual or powered wheelchairs and scooters are available for hire to any age group (under 18s must be accompanied by an adult) and you do not have to be registered disabled to use the scheme.  Free parking area is available while using the service.  All hires must be pre-booked.  Open Monday – Saturday 10.00am – 4.30pm (closed Sunday and on bank holidays).  For hire costs and to pre-book a scooter  call 01483 453993 or email: shopmobility@ageuksurrey.org.uk

“I would simply not be able to visit Guildford for shopping or other leisure activities such as having a picnic down by the riverbank if it were not for Shopmobility”.  Anil – Shopmobility client.

Sue Zirps, Age UK Surrey Chief Executive said “We are delighted to have provided a Shopmobility service for over 25 years with the support of Guildford Borough Council.  This is a vital service for many people, with mobility issues, who would otherwise find it difficult to access the wide selection of shops, restaurants, cafes and entertainment that Guildford town centre has to offer”. 

Guildford Borough Council’s Lead Councillor for Community, Cllr Julia McShane, added: “Congratulations to Age UK Surrey on the 25th anniversary of their Guildford Shopmobility scheme. “Our town centre is a thriving and exciting place for everyone in the community, and should be enjoyed by everyone equally. Shopmobility is available to anyone who finds it difficult to walk because of a permanent or temporary disability, frailty, accident or illness.” 

Service user Anil has been using Shomobility for the past few years “I would thoroughly recommend it.  Whether it’s just to enjoy cruising around Guildford without the effort of having to walk and deal with Guildford’s hilly terrain or like me you have real mobility issues!  The friendly willingness to be of help shown by the small close-knit Shopmobility team, often going the extra mile for their customers, is outstanding. Should you encounter any issues whilst out and about on a Shopmobility scooter, the team are always contactable by phone”. 

Would you like to know more about Age UK Surrey?  Age UK Surrey is an independent local charity.  We work across Surrey to help improve the lives of older people. Our services are designed to enable older people remain independent and informed, healthy and active and connected to their communities.  We help combat loneliness and social isolation.  More  information is available on the website: www.ageuk.org.uk/surrey

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Ash and Ash Vale Community Street Team

By Pat Scott

The Ash & Ash Vale Community Street Team are a friendly group of volunteers from the local community that go out and talk to young people and anyone else they meet on their patrols.  Their objective is to break down barriers between different age groups in the Parish.

Traditionally, public safety has been the domain of law enforcement. When crime and Anti-social Behaviour occurs, we tend to look to law enforcement for reduction strategies. However, increasingly over the past few years, research has shown that you can’t have sustained, long term reductions in violence and crime without engaging residents in the public safety process. That’s to say that you can’t have “public safety” without the “public”.

Our Teams of Volunteers go on pre-arranged Outings in pairs around Ash and Ash Vale and act as a service to the community, bridging the gap between the generations and offering mainly young people the chance to chat and simply talk to someone who will listen.

Since starting over 12 years ago, the Street Team have 18 volunteers of various ages.  The Team originally received funding from Surrey County Council, allowing them to buy uniforms and back packs which carry hot drinks in the winter and cold drinks in the summer.   Members of the team live in the local area, and are well known within the Community with their logo marked hi-viz jackets, fleeces and backpacks. 

Pat Scott, who Chairs the group, said:

“We try to go to places where young people gather. We want to let them know that not all people over the age of 40 are about to collect their pension, and similarly let older people know that not everyone under the age of 25 is ‘up to no good’ even in small groups.”

Often, we just listen to people who feel they cannot talk to their parents or teachers for whatever reason, Pat said. “Young people can get very pressurised at school and worry about exams etc., and it can really help to just have an outsider to talk to.” or signpost local events of interest.

Helping the elderly is also important. “On one occasion, a Team met an older lady who was frightened about crossing the park in the dark because she had seen some youths there,” The Team offered their help. “We went with her, and the youths actually turned around and said “good night” to us. It made the lady feel that they are not all bad after all.”

Can you spare an hour or two a month? Or perhaps you are looking for something different to do, meeting new people and making new friends whilst also taking a little exercise, then why not join us?

If you would like to go out on a ‘taster session’ to see if this could be something you would enjoy please contact Pat (Scott) on scott.lpd@outlook.com.