EcoChurch
Both parishes in our benefice are proud to have been awarded the Arocha EcoChurch Silver Award.
We continue to work together towards our Gold Award with projects and activities that we will try to keep you updated on here…
Our Church, St Arilda’s, Wins Gold Award for Eco-Friendly Commitment
We are thrilled to announce that St Arilda’s Church has been awarded the prestigious Gold Award from A Rocha UK, a Christian charity dedicated to protecting and restoring the natural world. This honor recognizes the hard work and commitment of our entire church community, the benefice, and our local village, who united to make a meaningful impact in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss.
The Gold Award acknowledges our success in five key areas: Worship and Teaching, Buildings and Energy, Land and Nature, Community and Global Engagement, and Lifestyle. Each area challenged us to embrace new practices that honor God's creation. Through dedication and collaboration, we have taken significant steps to care for our environment and safeguard it for future generations.
This award is a powerful testament to the value of our efforts, inspiring us to continue our mission of stewardship for the benefit of all living creatures in this beautiful area we call home. Thank you to everyone who made this achievement possible!
Well Done!
Many congratulations to the Holy Mowers at St Mary's and the gardeners at St Paul's for the Level 5 "Outstanding" assessment both teams were awarded this year in the RHS It's Your Neighbourhood scheme. Thank you for everyone’s hard work!
Join us to celebrate the good work that our Environment Champions do for our churches and local community at the Benefice Eco Commissioning Service on Sunday 29th September. 10am at St Mary’s Church Hall.
Eco Church
‘Going for Gold!’ As part of our lifestyle commitments as a community we seek to use resources that sustain our wonderful earth. Do look out for the new notice sheets in our church kitchens and bathrooms to remind you of some of the wonderful things we buy (or you might donate!) to help us run our churches green!
Eco Church Life Style Survey – The Results Show!
In Autumn of 2023 the Thornbury Benefice Eco Church team sent out an Eco Lifestyle survey. Here are the findings…….
Everyone (100%) is now using Energy saving light bulbs, reducing, reusing and recycling as much as possible and cutting down on food waste by freezing or reusing left overs. Everyone also takes their own reusable bags when shopping - all issues which have been highlighted in Thornbury and nationally for many years so have obviously become second nature to us now.
96% of people also donate and buy second hand clothes.
80% are using less plastic in the garden, composting their garden and kitchen waste and using a water butt.
Only 8% of those who responded owned electric cars now, about half of the others were considering buying one. Some were not car drivers. Other comments explained why they had not considered buying.
Checking our carbon foot print scored only 16% - probably because it can be a very complicated procedure on some websites – so something for Eco Champions to look into.
Difficulties were highlighted – e.g. in finding places to buy loose produce free from packaging. Only 28% could do this at present although others were willing. 26% succeeded in buying refillable cleaning products. Answers indicated that we need to promote where environmentally products can be bought.
Approx. 11% of the Church members responded but some were completed as families. The results were collated anonymously.
A big thank you to everyone who completed and returned the recent Lifestyle surveys. This has helped the Eco Church team enormously.
Particular thanks to those who added really useful comments. We will be helping address some of the issues raised in the survey and continue to raise awareness and give practical advise when possible.
