Eco Church

St Mary's holds the Eco Church Bronze Award

Eco Church is a scheme run by "A Rocha UK" - a Christian charity working to protect and restore the natural world and committed to equipping Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environment

St Mary’s began to explore becoming an Eco Church in 2019. This was the same time as a Diocesan Environment Officer was appointed to encourage parishes to take practical action to protect God’s Creation.

A small committee of ‘eco-warriors’ was formed at St Mary’s to assess how we were doing in the five categories on which a church’s eco-credentials are judged; these are:

• Worship and teaching

• Buildings

• Land

• Community & Global engagement

• Lifestyle

We are doing well in Worship and Teaching as we regularly include prayers in our liturgies and intercessions to reflect ecological matters especially in special times and seasons such as Creation Sunday.

The Buildings section is more difficult, but we are measuring our energy use and have installed a Hive controller to help us control the heating more precisely. We have also installed new LED lighting which is cost effective as well as eco-friendly.

Our ongoing work in the churchyard has been very successful and rewarding for all involved.

Community and global engagement & Lifestyle These are difficult areas but we are a Fairtrade church and recycle as best we can. We also use eco-friendly cleaning products and have phased out the use of disposables and we encourage members of the congregation to think about energy conservation and reduce waste at home.

We were delight to receive a Bronze eco-award in 2021 and are now working towards the Silver level.

The churchyard was closed for burials in 1882 because there was no space for new graves. Later many of the gravestones were moved to the perimeter of the churchyard to create an open space around the Church. The maintenance of the churchyard is the responsibility of Eaton Bray Parish Council.

Churchyards are home to a wide variety of wild life and native plants, probably because the soil hasn’t been cultivated for many years. A survey was conducted at St Mary’s and a variety of native plants and grasses were found. It was decided not to mow a small area of the churchyard near the Village Hall one summer to give wild plants chance to grow. Since then the area has been expanded.

Near the entrance to the hall some shrubs have been removed and the area has been replanted with a native hedge, to attract wildlife, and various wild flowers allowed to grow around it. Later some fir trees had to be cut down because they were unsafe. The stumps and some logs have been left to create a seating area.

The vegetation in one corner of the churchyard has been allowed to grow and will be cut back later in the summer, after the flowers and grasses have seeded, and the dead vegetation removed to allow new growth and seed germination. Wide paths have been made through the area to allow visitors to see what is growing.

A dead hedge has been built using dead branches, held in place with stakes. It is not a hedge that has died but made of dead material! Ivy can be planted to grow through it which will provide more shelter for insects and nesting birds.

The bug hotel provides shelter for solitary bees, beetles and other creatures. It is also a place where bumble bees can lay their eggs before the winter. These hatch in the spring as the next generation.

The latest addition to the Eco Garden is a small pond make from a rigid blue plastic liner which was painted black. One side of the pond is shallow to allow access for animals to drink and enter the water. Plants are growing in the water to aerate it and provide shelter for aquatic life. There is further planting around the pond.

Thanks go to The Edlesborough and Eaton Bray Beaver Group, their parents and leaders and members of St Mary’s congregation for their efforts creating the Eco Garden and now maintaining and improving it.

You are very welcome to visit it.