GOLD !

St Mary’s has been assessed by aRocha and the Eco team are thrilled to announce that we have achieved the Gold Eco Church Award!

The team has worked with the congregation and the wider community to achieve this ECO church award in recognition of the work completed to be more environmentally friendly within our church community.

What does this mean? Every day we all make decisions that could impact the environment and here in church we seek alternative options that have less impact on the world around us. This means that we make positive and thoughtful decisions including the use of environmentally friendly products to clean; we serve fair trade coffee and tea; we serve refreshments in re-useable cups and on ‘real’ plates: we encourage car sharing and walking to church activities; our porches are decorated with treasurers found in local charity shops; we offer a safe haven for wildlife; we support local environmental and recycling initiatives whilst encouraging people to be more aware of their own impact on the environment at home.

The major change in lighting in the church to LED has made the interior much brighter, but also more environmentally friendly.

Well done to all of you who completed this year’s Carbon Fast and in doing so reduced your carbon footprint. Try to continue this good practice.

We continue to support the ‘Nature isn’t Neat’ initiative and have allowed an unused area in the Garden of Remembrance to grow naturally.

We have recently revised our Land Management Plan (contact Carol if you’d like to see the full document).

However, we shall not be resting, but continuing on our journey to reduce our carbon footprint, to support global and community eco projects and to encourage others to join us in caring for God’s Creation.

* Keep a lookout for news of our forthcoming celebration service*

These are the core principles in the development of our churchyard.

A Spiritual Place:

• Preservation as a place of remembrance.
• Preservation as a place of worship and prayer.

A Community Space for Reflection:

• A space open to the public for quiet reflection.
• Providing accessibility to all.

A Space for Nature:

• Preservation of an environmentally friendly and ecologically managed space.
• Using Eco church principles, encouraging flora and fauna appropriately.

An Historic Place:

• Preservation of the churchyard surrounding a Grade One listed building and within a conservation area. 

A Safe Space:

• Inclusive to all, calm, quiet and welcoming.
• Providing a safe environment to all those using the churchyard,  whether passing through, stopping for a reflection or visiting a grave.

A Shared Space:

• A space for visitors to rest and perhaps enjoy a snack.
• A place for community groups to embrace and enhance our Eco values.

We would welcome your ideas and thoughts, please contact a member of the clergy, a member of the congregation or just leave a note in the green box at the back of church.