In this special guest post, Colin Last, the Environmental Officer at St Mary's Goldington shares some of their Eco Church journey with us. Putnoe Heights and St Mary's are both part of North Bedford Churches Together. Every church that embarks on the Eco Church programme will have a different journey depending on their circumstances and so we wanted to share our stories with each other. 

About St Mary's

Our Church

St Mary’s is the Anglican parish church of Goldington and is probably quite typical of hundreds of parish churches throughout the UK. We are a grade II listed building with the older parts dating back to the thirteen and fifteen centuries. We have a churchyard with over 400 gravestones. It is closed meaning that burials no longer take place, although interment of ashes still occurs.

In addition, there is about an acre of land to the south of the churchyard. This includes the church hall, built in the 1960’s, a car park area, and green areas including a largish, grassed area by the hall. We have a number of trees within the churchyard and also in the rest of the grounds.

Our weekly congregation averages around 90. Although we have many elderly parishioners, we also have families with young children attending which we are building on. The church hall sees a lot of activity, particularly now that the pandemic is receding. Our church has seen worship for 800 years and we certainly see it continuing for a long time.

St Mary's Eco Church Survey

There are many challenges we face to become a truly environmentally friendly church. I discuss below how we have been getting on with each part of the Eco Church survey.

Management of Land

One area we were failing on spectacularly was in looking after our land. There was certainly a tendency in the past to regard the church yard as having to look ‘tidy’, and consequently grass was cut regularly everywhere with no areas for wildlife encouraged.

We have made major improvements over the past 2 years.

We took part in the ‘Count for Nature Week’ in June 2020 and with help from both Messy Church and the local Guides we recorded the wildlife we have in our churchyard.

We then drew up a Wildlife Plan for the churchyard, with lots of ideas on improving the environment and increasing biodiversity.

Some of the ways we have improved things for wildlife include:

• Installing 8 swift nest boxes in the Bell Tower
• Putting up nest boxes in the churchyard. Two were used by Great tits last year.
• Creating a hedgehog home. Not being inhabited yet.
• Leaving wild corners where deadwood, leaf piles and vegetation can provide shelter and homes for wildlife.
• Leaving some areas of grass to grow long to encourage spring and summer flowers, and a habitat for bees, insects, butterflies etc. Over the summer there was a fine display of ox-eye daisies which occurred naturally. We have also added some supplementary planting of primroses, cowslips, and foxgloves.
• Leaving some areas under long grass throughout the year which will provide shelter, food and overwintering sites for invertebrate and other small animals.
• Last year we took part in the Queens Green Canopy project, planting four whips (Cherry, Birch, Oak, Lime) and creating a hedge along one boundary.
• There are 26 trees which are managed with safety in mind, but deadwood is encouraged, and ivy allowed to grow on the trees.
• Going forward we have ambitious plans to create a pond in the paddock area next to the church hall.

I feel we have made great strides. From having an initial very low score on the Eco Church Survey of only 4% we now have a high score of 60%. The churchyard is no longer ‘tidy’. It does however require a lot of volunteer work and it is encouraging that several of our congregation have given of their time during the year. We wouldn’t have succeeded without their help.

Management of Buildings

The Church of England has an ambitious plan to become net zero carbon by 2030. It is an aim which St Mary’s has also agreed to try and achieve.

Yes, we have smart meters and LED bulbs, but by far the biggest part of our carbon footprint which we need to address is the energy we consume in heating the two buildings. Our ancient church is a particular challenge having a large space with a high ceiling. Being listed we are also restricted in what we can do.

To reduce the amount of CO2 we emit will require us to replace the existing gas boilers with a greener alternative. It is a bold step which will need substantial investment but will be necessary if we are to be true to our goals for tackling climate change. We are currently investigating our options as to how we can realistically and affordably achieve this. If anyone has an easy answer let me know…

Worship and Teaching

We have been good in our worship and teaching. There has been a marked change over the past few years. The clergy and worship team are fully on board and environmental concerns have been in our thoughts, regularly included in our prayers in church, and featured in our monthly magazine.

Lifestyle

We encourage our congregation to think about their impact on the environment and what they can do to help. For example, some of us joined in the Plastic Free Lent campaign. Much more difficult than giving up chocolate….

We encourage car sharing in coming to church. We promote the use of Fairtrade products.

The Eco Church Survey suggests there is much more we can do. This year, just as we have measured the carbon footprint of the church, we will be asking people to measure their own carbon footprint. And then looking at ways of how this can be reduced.

There are now some great resources available, easily accessible online, to help in learning about environmental issues and how to get involved. We encourage people to get more informed.

Community and Global Engagement

We did just enough to gain our Bronze Award in this section and to be honest there is a lot of room for improvement.

We engage with our own congregation but could certainly be more proactive in also engaging with our local community. I can praise what Putnoe Heights Church does in getting the word out on social media, which is something we don’t currently do enough of at St Mary’s.

Postscript

The main lesson I have learned is that it is important to try and involve as many people as possible. The climate crisis affects everyone, and we all need to be doing our bit to solve this.

I am currently reading ‘The Climate Book’ created by Greta Thunberg in collaboration with over a hundred experts. It is a comprehensive analysis of the climate crisis. It reinforces the importance of what we are trying to achieve through Eco Church. We have no time to lose. The next goal in our journey at St Mary’s is the Silver Award, which won’t be easy to obtain but we will get there. And soon.