A church is hoping that a top eco award is just the start of an exciting journey towards net carbon zero.
St Patrick’s at High Spen is celebrating after achieving the bronze award from the charity A Rocha UK, which equips Christians, churches and dioceses to protect and restore God’s creation.
The environment steering group at St Patrick’s achieved the accolade after building on several good practices which were already in place.
Assistant Curate, the Revd Jonny Fay, who leads the steering group with the support of Parish Priest, the Revd Diane Ryan, is delighted with the progress so far.
“This has been an excellent project for us as a church,” said Jonny. “It’s great that our efforts have been recognised and this has made us all the more determined to continue with our eco journey.”
After signing up to the A Rocha scheme, Jonny and the team realised that St Patrick’s was already getting many things right. Recycling was already a top priority, the green space around the church was being well maintained, while there was even an eco-drain to remove waste from the toilets.
“We ticked a few boxes straight away,” said Jonny. “The eco drain was already there in the absence of soil drainage, so that was a major plus in terms of our carbon footprint.
“But signing up to the ethos of eco church had a lasting effect on how we do things. We started to include a segment on the environment in our fortnightly newsletter, which reaches out into the community and has a big following.
“This is important because we want to inspire other people and organisations to focus on what they can do for the environment. Now this is a subject matter which is spoken about at every PCC meeting and is mentioned in our intercessions at Sunday morning services.”
Jonny said that the church is looking forward with enthusiasm at the next stage of the A Rocha process and working towards a silver award.
He added: “This whole journey has been really good for us as a church and as a community. It really has brought us together and we are learning together. People are also thinking about what they can do in their home lives to make a difference.
“Everyone is really keen to move onto the next stage. We’re delighted with bronze but will now focus on achieving silver.”
St Patrick’s High Spen and St Barnabas Rowlands Gill form the Parishes of High Spen and Rowlands Gill.