Harvest Festival is a service celebrates the time of year when crops have been gathered from the field and people can reflect and give thanks to God for the food that they have.  One way of demonstrating our gratitude is to be good stewards of this earth – especially at this time of climate crisis.  We take this seriously in our parish, and the PCC decided earlier this year to join the Eco Church award scheme. The scheme is designed to equip churches to express care for God’s world in our worship and teaching; in how we look after our buildings and land; in how we engage with our community both locally and globally; and in the personal lifestyles of our congregation.

You may have seen our suggestion in a recent Weekly Update email suggesting we all complete an online carbon footprint survey. That was one of the things that helped us towards an Eco Church Award – but more importantly it will help us to understand how our choices impact the environment and what we can do about it.  The various actions we are taking to date, from reducing energy consumption to using recycled paper and preaching about caring for God’s earth, have been assessed and I’m pleased to announce that both St Mary’s and St Alban’s churches have been awarded Bronze Awards.

We have been given a certificate to display and a wooden plaque is on its way!  Our next step is to work towards a Silver Award, so we’ll be announcing other initiatives soon. Do get involved if you can!