Eco Church Bronze Award
Our venture into the world of A Rocha’s Eco Church award scheme began last Oct and we are pleased to say that within one year we have achieved our bronze award.
At our Harvest Festival service, Revd Liz celebrated the natural world in all its glorious abundance and with the help of some of the Eco Church committee, listed some of the many things which enabled St George’s to gain this prestigious award.
Eco Church Initiatives 2022-2023
1. Signed up to Eco Church Award system and completed initial survey of St George’s environmental credentials.
2. Created a churchyard meadow area and Sunday school planted wild flower seeds.
3. Apple trees planted by toddler group.
4. Bug boxes, bird boxes and bug hotel made and placed in churchyard by toddler group.
5. Survey of use of key resources such as electricity use, eco-friendly light bulbs, awareness of refuse products.
6. Advent book reflecting on God’s creation ‘Sleepers Awake’
7. Use of communal Christmas and Easter cards created by Sunday School.
8. Development of compost area.
9. Dead hedge created
10. Film night showing David Attenborough film ‘Climate Change’, followed by discussion. Invited Eco Church representatives in the diocese.
11. Researched and made plan for cycle racks.
12. Encouraged use of Carbon Footprint Calculator.
13. Toilet Twinning initiative.
14. Summer Fete Kids’ activity making bug boxes from recycled materials.
15. Sharing environmental information in the church magazine and on display board.
16. Locally sourced fresh food used for church meals and offering a vegan option.
17. Collaborating with other Diocesan Eco Church groups.
18. Research and planning Reuse, Renew, Recycle initiative
19. Researched and have brought to PCC information on greener heating boilers.
As a result of completing these and other initiatives we received our Bronze award and it is displayed at the back of Church. Beneath the plaque you will see our dedication to Len Palmer whose generous bequest to St George’s has funded some of the work we have done.
One of the new initiatives was to twin our toilet in the hall with one in Uganda and the certificate for that is displayed outside the toilets in the hall.
Revd Liz invited the congregation to share their own environmental steps forward with their neighbour and then several people fed back this information to the congregation. Clearly, everyone is becoming more aware of the need to care for God’s Earth in the light of climate change and global warming. The Eco church group have already begun work on the survey to see what we can do to earn our Silver award!
If anyone would like to join the Eco Church committee, please speak to Revd Liz, Mo Peters or Jane Cook and we can give you details of our next meeting. .
Revd Liz Quinn and Mo Peters
