Winterslow gains Bronze Eco-Church award
Winterslow Eco-church was founded in 2021 by members of the congregation. Since then we have held regular meetings throughout 2022 and 2023, planning ways in which the church can contribute to the improvement of the environment as part of our care for God’s creation.
As part of this wider strategy, we have sought ways in which to improve the immediate church environment, by using sustainable products within the church, reviewing our heating plan, and more recently looking at ways in which we can increase the biodiversity of the churchyard. This latter project has been conducted with expert help from Mike d’Apice, and included wildlife surveys of the churchyard, leaving areas of long grass and wildflowers, clearingrough areas and sowing them with wildflower seed, installing water butts for use in the graveyard, allowing the construction of compost areas and bug hotels, as well as initiating planning for a churchyard pond.
We facilitate community outreach by hosting talks by wildlife and ecological experts, holding wildlife activities within the churchyard for youth groups such as Cubs, and working with local schools to promote ecological awareness. As well as this, the core Eco-church members have been active in writing regular articles for the Parish Magazine outlining simple changes to modern lifestyles that can contribute towards reducing waste and improving biodiversity. We have also forged some links with other ecologically-minded members of the community, as well as some local farmers. As a consequence of these activities, we have recently been awarded the A Rocha Bronze Eco-church award.
In the future, we hope to consolidate what we have achieved so far, and strive towards Silver, by improving the energy efficiency of the Church if possible, installing a churchyard pond, and working more closely with our local community, especially farmers and landowners to support an ecological mindset / cultural shift in the way our local community lives within nature.