St Martin’s is Eco Church bronze winner
ST MARTIN'S Church is going for gold having achieved a bronze environmental award.
The Eco Church bronze award was presented to St Martin’s for its work making the church greener in five separate categories.
‘We have our bronze and hope to get our silver pretty soon, but gold is the big step as it involves an inspection,’ said the rector, the Rev. Daniel Foot.
‘The parishioners have been very supportive, and we have had lots of people getting involved.
‘St Martin’s School and the Smile for Georgie charity have helped. As far as we are concerned, the more the merrier, and I’d welcome hearing from anyone who wants to be part of this.’
The Eco Church scheme is run by A Rocha, a UK charity which works to protect the natural world and help churches care for the environment.
More than 5,000 churches are part of the scheme, but so far only 30 have achieved the gold award.
St Martin’s received the bronze after making changes to the way it operates.
Physical changes included things swapping to LED lighting, putting up bird boxes, and encouraging wildflowers in the church grounds.
‘We are actively exploring things like solar panels and heat pumps in our three buildings. Churches in the UK partnered with solar providers to rent roof space out,’ said Mr Foot.
‘We are also looking at getting a bird hide and starting a community food project, where we would grow and distribute or sell locally. We have already applied for planning permission to put in a potting shed.’
St Martin’s has already hit the gold standard in one category – worship and teaching – because of special Sunday services which have an environmental theme.
But it said it needed to improve engagement with other environmental organisations to enhance its standing in the ‘global engagement’ category.
‘We are looking at 2025 at the earliest for the gold award,’ said Mr Foot.
‘There is still a lot of work to do.’
