Councillors David Beaman, Graham White and Andy Macleod have been invited to attend a question and answer session at the North West Farnham Residents Association annual general meeting at St Francis Church Hall in Three Stiles Road on June 19 at 8pm.

After the AGM matters and refreshments, the audience will have a chance to ask the councillors what their views are on topics including planning, the Farnham Infrastructure Plan, community speed watch, traffic chaos and housing.

For more information visit nwfarnham.org.uk

Hart Male Voice Choir entertained and delighted a packed church on May 31 with a concert celebrating the 95th anniversary of the opening of the Catholic Church of St Joan of Arc in Tilford Road, Farnham.

The event also launched a fundraising drive to enable major repairs to the roof, which will cost in the region of £250,000 to £300,000.

The choir, under the direction of Kevin Jacot, and accompanied on the keyboard by Judith Morgan, performed an impressive selection of classical, contemporary and traditional songs with resounding harmonies interspersed with poignant solos.

The programme ranged from Bridge Over Troubled Water to The Holy City and included folk and traditional songs such as Wild Mountain Thyme and The Parting Glass.

The whole audience joined in enthusiastically to raise the roof with This Little Light Of Mine, and the evening ended with a very moving rendition of Speed Your Journey from Verdi’s Nabucco, with the choir spreading out down the side aisles of the church to surround the audience with their rich vocal tones.

In his closing address, parish priest Fr Simon Dray thanked the choir for a truly wonderful and uplifting evening which was a fitting celebration of the church’s anniversary, as well as a great kick-start for the fundraising appeal. Final figures are not yet available, but the event raised more than £3,000.

St Joan of Arc Church opened on May 30, 1930. Fr Etienne Robo, the parish priest at the time, had realised that the Church of St Polycarp in Bear Lane - near where the Woolmead site is now - was too small to cope with the expanding Catholic population.

He purchased the site of a disused gravel pit between Tilford Road and Waverley Lane and built the new church, dedicated to St Joan who had been canonised in 1920. St Polycarp’s school also moved from Bear Lane to the new site.

The choice of St Joan as patron saint reflected Fr Robo’s French heritage and was also an act of reparation for her ill-treatment by the Bishop of Winchester, Cardinal Beaufort, who had resided at Farnham Castle. He had supposedly played a significant part in Joan’s trial for heresy and her execution in 1431.

St Joan’s is a thriving Catholic parish, with weekend mass attendance of around 600. There are programmes of preparation for first holy communion and confirmation, plus many social, formation and prayer groups.

Fr Dray extends a warm welcome to newcomers and to Catholics rediscovering their faith. For more information about St Joan’s Parish, or to donate to the roof appeal, visit www.stjoanofarc.co.uk

Hart Male Voice Choir was formed in 1975 and has recently been celebrating its 50th anniversary by performing at seven events in the Cork International Choral Festival. For more information about the choir, visit www.hmbvc.org.uk

Petersfield Golf Club has raised a total of £15,730.64 over the past year to support Sands, the UK’s leading charity for baby bereavement.

The figure includes £13,230.64 raised for the Sands national charity, and an additional £2,500 for Sands United FC Solent, which offers a supportive space for bereaved fathers and family members.

The fundraising effort was led by the club’s outgoing ladies’ captain, Heidi Oliver, helped by 2024 club captain Simon Baigent and seniors’ captain Stuart Garland.

Heidi was the one to choose Sands as the captains’ charity, for a deeply personal reason. In 1963, Heidi’s mother Mavis Jeffrey died at the age of 28 in Dhekelia Military Hospital in Cyprus following the birth of Heidi’s younger brother. A lack of blood for an emergency transfusion meant Mavis’s life could not be saved.

Over a ten-year period, more than 600 babies died either at birth or shortly afterwards at the same hospital, most of them between 1960 and 1964. Many of these babies are buried in the Dhekelia Military Cemetery, where more infant graves than adult ones can be found. Stillborn babies were placed in an unmarked mass grave, which has since been formally recognised with the installation of a bear statue as a memorial.

Heidi said: “There was no support available for military bereaved parents in the 1960s. Most families were sent home without understanding the scale of what was happening. Every time I visit the cemetery in Cyprus, I’m not only reminded of the loss of my mother, but also of the many babies who could and should have survived. That is why I chose Sands - because at least now there is help for bereaved parents.”

Sands works to support anyone affected by the death of a baby, improve bereavement care, and fund research to save babies’ lives. Sands United FC Solent, formed under the same charity, provides an outlet for bereaved men to connect through football and talk about their grief in a supportive environment. Nick Lang and Pete Moseley set up the team.

Nick said: “In 2016, my wife and I received the devastating news that, at 38 weeks pregnant, our daughter’s heart had stopped beating. Our world was turned upside down - the loss of our darling Evalyn changed our lives forever.

“Fast forward to 2019, when Pete Moseley - a fellow dad who had also had to say goodbye to their baby too soon - and I decided to create a Sands United football team just for dads, uncles and brothers who had been affected by baby loss. We were overwhelmed when 25 men, most of whom had never met before, walked through our doors.

“We are extremely grateful to Petersfield Golf Club for this amazing sum of £2,500, which now gives us the opportunity to buy new football kit for the whole of our Solent branch team.”

The football club, based around Gosport and Fareham, has supported more than 50 families and fields a competitive league team every Sunday.

Nick added: “We raise awareness to make sure that no family - no dad, uncle or brother - ever feels they have to grieve alone.”

For more information visit www.sands.org.uk

The group hosted a public talk on cancer, its prevention and treatment at Medstead Village Hall.

Speaker Dr Julie Smallwood, a GP at the surgery, specialises in cancer diagnosis and treatment. She has been a Wessex Cancer Alliance GP adviser for the last year and prior to that was clinical cancer lead in east Surrey for ten years.

She began her presentation talking about the four most common cancers, breast, lung, bowel and prostate. She discussed how these were diagnosed and the types of treatments available, emphasising that treatment type is very often specific to a person.

Surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and palliative care were discussed in detail. She mentioned that palliative care can often have a very long duration. The importance of screening was mentioned, as this can identify problems when they are more easily treatable. Although screening can be age specific, it is possible to request screening at other times if there is a concern.

Dr Smallwood said if anyone had concerns about a change in their body or bodily functions she would recommend a discussion with a GP. Referrals can be made to rule out cancer, or identify it at a very early stage. She said most of these referrals did not reveal cancer but relieved much anxiety.

Dr Smallwood discussed prevention, endorsing well-established factors that a reduction in alcohol and smoking are key, as well as regular exercise. Sugary drinks and processed meat are known to be harmful, although neither are actually carcinogenic.

The evening continued with a second talk by Claire Gill, from Macmillan Cancer Support. She is a dietician, and drew the distinction between dieticians, who are regulated, and nutritionists, who are not. She went on to say there was a lot of misinformation on the internet, often prompted by commercial interests. She said searching for healthy food on the internet provoked two million responses, and there was no such thing as a superfood.

For patients who have, or have had, cancer, diet is critical. Often the appetite is suppressed and skill is needed to prepare a suitable and healthy diet. She emphasised it was important a meal was enjoyable as well as healthy. She gave many tips, such as including a handful of lentils in a meal to increase fibre, rather than presenting a full plate which some may not enjoy.

The talk was well attended and both clinicians responded to a number of questions from the audience.