What is Eco Church?
The beginning – in 2019 when we joined the Eco Church scheme it was all about the Parish of the Resurrection making an overt commitment to caring for God’s Earth in five key areas of our church life: worship and teaching, management of church buildings, management of church land, community/global engagement and lifestyle.
Worship and teaching – the Eco Church team works with the Ministry Team to ensure our services and other acts of worship celebrate creation throughout the year, and to include it in our prayers and the teaching we receive.
Each year we hold a Creation Care service, outdoors, weather permitting!
Each year during Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP) we provided Prayer stations in each church that is open during the week to encourage & focus prayer for those vitally important events. This important event takes places each year. This year was COP29. Picture below of the prayer station
A display board in each church, on social media and in Parish Matters; we will signpost to local initiatives, such as Energy Alton, ACAN, ALFI, Alton society’s litter pick etc. as well as joining relevant global initiatives – POTR is already part of toilet twinning.
Buildings –surveys of all church buildings have been undertaken to determine where we can reduce our carbon footprint. Plans will be drawn up of what can be done and the related costs – priorities will then be set. Steps have been taken already – heating in the Parish Centre and Holy Rood has switched to more energy efficient gas fired radiators.
Lifestyle tip!
Follow this link to find some more actions you can take to reduce your carbon footprint https://www.count-us-in.org/16-steps/
Land –Wildlife is in serious decline and we need to do something about it, NOW.
POTR has taken part in the Count on Nature event in the last 2 years. With the wonderful support of Alton Natural History Society, the biodiversity of the churchyards of Holy Rood & of St Lawrence churchyards have been surveyed – the plant life we found was extensive but there are lots of things we can do to improve it.
At last year’s event, Thomas Howe produced this video to document the day.
With the support of Alton Town Council (who own and manage the churchyard) we are in the process of actively “greening” the churchyard at St Lawrence and the first of several wildflower areas was sown in April 2023.
Following the advice of Alton Natural History Society, bulbs will be planted around trees and along some of the boundaries and more wildflower spaces will be sown. Bat & bird boxes will be put in place and a Quiet Garden for the use of the whole community will be developed.
In May 2024, we extended our wild flower space in St Lawrence Churchyard. We look forward to seeing the mixture of specially picked pollinator seeds and plants grow into a beautiful display. God is good.
In autumn of 2024 we carried out more bulb planting. New members of our gardening team came along. Discussuons started about the new Quiet Garden for St Lawrence. More information coming soon.
Lifestyle tip!
During the warmer months make sure there is water available in your garden/outdoor space for birds & insects.
Top tips for providing water for wildlife from The Wildlife Trusts (https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-provide-water-wildlife)
- Put water where you can watch the activity as you’re not going to want to miss anything!
- Use a specially made bird bath, or just a bowl on the floor – you’ll attract different creatures to different settings.
- Place water for birds near a shrub or tree as they like to approach from a place of safety.
- Watch for predators such as cats.
- Leave water where you can easily access it for cleaning and filling.
- Introduce a small, shallow or running water feature and provide water for birds, as well as butterflies and other insects. Even an old sink can be turned into a water feature!
Lifestyle & Community engagement – relates to our individual and corporate impact on the environment. Everyone, we are sure, is aware of the mantra Reduce, Reuse, Refuse, Recycle and the parish is committed to be part of this and to encourage all members to join in.
The Parish as a whole has already committed to using only Fairtrade products when refreshments are served after services. Also, the amount of paper and printing used to produce Parish Matters has been reduced by having one sheet rather than two. Two small steps to start with, but that is how big things happen.
The Eco Church Team run Craft Swaps and Toy Bonanzas – the purpose of these events is to encourage donation of unwanted items (how many craft projects have we all bought with great intentions to complete & just not completed them!?). Craft supplies and toys are then taken for free and leftovers are taken to charity shops or other organisations who can use them.
Watch for dates of future events on the website, in Parish Matters and on social media.
Cycle racks have been installed at St Lawrence, All Saints & Holy Rood to encourage cycling to church & visit from cyclists.
Follow this link to our recycling directory – Eco Church Recycling Directory
We are blessed in Alton to have a brilliant environmental group, ACAN, with whom we work closely whenever we can. Look at their website to see the fantastic work they do https://altonclimatenetwork.org.uk/
A display board in each church, on social media and in Parish Matters; we will signpost to local initiatives, such as Energy Alton, ACAN, ALFI, Alton society’s litter pick etc. as well as joining relevant global initiatives – POTR is already part of toilet twinning.
POTR achieved the Eco Church Bronze Award in 2021 and is now working towards the Silver Award.
Please pray for Eco Church, for the environment and for everyone committed to help deal with the climate emergency.
Eco Church Team:
Elspeth Mackeggie Gurney
Julie Howe
John Hubbard
Martyn Dell
Jenny Thompson
We have a team of Eco Volunteers who help the Eco Church Team – if you would like to join the list, please email using the address below.
Email – ecochurch@potr-alton.co.uk
For Eco Church and Alton Eco events please click here
For Eco Church past updates and articles , see the archive here
