Eco Church

United Nations Climate Emergency Pledge Prayer

Lord of life and giver of hope,
we pledge ourselves to care for creation,
to reduce our waste,
to live sustainably,
and to value the rich diversity of life.
May your wisdom guide us,
so that life in all its forms may flourish,
and may we be faithful in voicing creation’s praise.
May the commitment we have made this day
be matched by our faithful living.

Amen

The Eco Church scheme is intended to help individuals and groups to understand that we, and the world we live in, are both part of God’s creation. Care for all God’s creation is central to our faith and to how we show our gratitude for his own generous love.

Our commitment to be an Eco Church will show itself in

· our worship and teaching

· the way we care for our church buildings and land

· the way we engage with our local community and in global campaigns

· the personal lifestyles of our congregation.

A Rocha is a global family of conservation organisations working together, in response to the worldwide crisis of biodiversity loss, to carry out community-based conservation projects.

A Rocha was founded on work first done in Portugal by Christians from the UK in the 1980s. A Rocha simply means The Rock in Portuguese. You can learn more by visiting https://www.arocha.org/en/ and https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk .

To help churches look at how to move forward in caring for God's world, A Rocha have compiled an online survey which looks at the areas listed above. As churches move forward they can apply for a Bronze, Silver, or Gold award.

ECO CHURCH AROUND OUR TEAM

UPLOWMAN - October 2023 Creation Hub

A huge thank you to Steph Packham for her hard work in putting together the Creation Hub event that took place in in Uplowman Village Hall 8th October. It was wonderful to have so many local, national and international groups together in one place with the same heart which is we all have a part to play in caring for our world.

There were displays from our local schools, the Sampford Peverell Team Mission Community, Uplowman WI, Sustainable Tiverton, Tiverton Bee Keepers, Redwoods Farm and other local businesses that work ethically. Other groups were Sun Hats and Wellie Boots, Devon Wildlife Trust, Woodland Trust, Exeter Community Energy, Ripple Effect, Water Aid and A Rocha International.

Some of the groups gave talks about the work that they are doing, locally sourced refreshments and lunch was served throughout the event, thank you to the team that organised and served these.

Thank you to all the groups who came and to those who came to see what they can do to make a difference just where they are.

UPLOWMAN - APRIL 2023

UPLOWMAN'S CHURCHYARD TWINNING
St Peter’s Church, Uplowman have twinned their churchyard with a garden in Migori, Kenya. If you have donated to the general church funds lately, thank you for helping us to make this happen.

FAIRTRADE CHURCH

In November 2022, St John the Baptist Church, Sampford Peverell, is now, officially, a Fairtrade Church. This means that they are committed to using Fairtrade tea, coffee and sugar for refreshments after services and using fairtrade products where possible at other times. The wine used in the Team is also fairtrade. Unfortunately, Traidcraft has gone into administration after 40 years of trading. They have been instrumental in instigating fairtrade practices with small suppliers, however there are still many other ways of supporting fairtrade as many supermarkets stock these products.

HONEY COLLECTION FROM THE BEES IN SAMPFORD PEVERELL CHURCHYARD
After a service in August, members of the congregation at Sampford Peverell were able to watch honey from the bees being extracted. It has been a bumper year and those who wanted to, could sample the honey.

Sampford Peverell and Uplowman have both tried to make their churchyards welcoming places for everybody. Uplowman has created a new leaflet about their churchyard for people to take and read. Sampford has put a welcome poster on the noticeboard outside the church.

UP Churchyard leaflet pdf.pdf

A YOUNG PERSON'S PERSPECTIVE - BY EMILY PACKHAM, AGED 14

What might a net zero Tiverton look like?” That was the title of the Sustainable Tiverton children’s art competition. I knew I wanted to create an art piece that would make people think - Wow! I want to live in that place. It really made me think hard about what to produce. I wanted it to be full of colour, depicting a healthy lifestyle, a place with low pollution, and a place where people come together as a community to stop unnecessary waste. It was important that the things in my design were realistic and achievable. It is such an important issue and I was hoping that my design might get people talking about what they could do to help with climate change issues. I hope you like my picture.

It turns out that the judges did, as they announced that I was the overall winner of the competition. My design is available for all to see inside the Covid vaccination centre in Tiverton, along with designs from other children in the area.

Since then, I have become more and more interested in climate change issues and I have been asked by the Sustainable Tiverton Team to be involved in Devon-wide discussions about their net zero vision. The meetings are being hosted by Plymouth University. I’m helping by putting forward some ideas from a teenager’s point of view.

I’ve had lots of ideas about what I would like to see in the place I live, from volunteering opportunities that whole families can get involved in, to a net zero show home that shows people what they can do to help, a scrap store for recycling and up cycling, and clothes swaps. For me, the place I want to live in is one where people care for their environment, have a non throw away culture and has a sustainable future at the heart of it.

I’m so pleased to see this eco page on the churches' website. I’ve loved reading about the bug hotel and bee hives in the church gardens. I’ve been asked to talk to the Discovery group in Sampford Peverell church about what I’ve been up to, which I’m looking forward to. Perhaps some of you have ideas about what could be done - If you do, I’d love to share them with Sustainable Tiverton and the Devon Climate Action Group.

HALBERTON

Halberton's Certificate of Merit, for their churchyard.

Thanks to Alan Perkins for the hard work he puts into this.

HOCKWORTHY

Hockworthy church has reduced its mowing of the churchyard over the last two years, to encourage wild flowers. They are also on the waiting list for a rehabilitated hedgehog.

HOLCOMBE ROGUS

‘No Mow May’

As an experiment this year to give the flora and fauna of Holcombe Rogus a helping hand, All Saints’ HR PCC is trying a ‘No Mow May’ in both old and ‘new’ churchyards.* Here’s what ‘Garden Illustrated’ says: Figures show that if you mow less, the pollen count on your lawn can skyrocket...changing the way we mow can result in a tenfold increase in the amount of nectar available to bees and other pollinators. The new mowing regime saw an increase in the growth of daisies, germander, speedwell and creeping buttercup... The average square-metre patch of lawn surveyed after the experiment produced enough nectar to support almost four honey bees per day.

The memorial plaque area and surrounds will still be kept mowed, as will a pathway to and beyond the war memorial. Do come up and have a look to see if it’s working. And a further thought, maybe it’s something you’d like to try with your own lawn, and see what happens. I’ll be happy for any excuse not to mow ours. John Mc

SAMPFORD PEVERELL

Since the spring of 2021, St John the Baptist Church, Sampford Peverell has been registered as an ‘Eco Church’ under a scheme supported by the Church of England. The scheme is run by a Christian conservation charity, A Rocha. They have been working their way through the different sections of the A Rocha 'Caring for God's Earth' Survey and are aiming (hopefully) for a bronze award. They have taken advice on how to increase the bio-diversity in both their churchyards, are considering changing their electricity provider and looking at changing to a more-eco-friendly and efficient form of heating.

In January 2022 a bee-hive, provided by bee-keeper, Katy Danby (and family) was put into the churchyard.

June 2022. because of the proximity of the beehive to Sampford Peverell School, Katy was bale to take her bees into school, show them to the children and demonstrate how a beehive worked. She said that she would not have been able to do that if her beehive had been further away.

UPLOWMAN

In November 2021volunteers at Uplowman Church built a 5-star bug hotel. The aim is to increase bio-diversity and create a haven for bugs of all sorts. This, along with other initiatives in the Team, is one of our responses to the Climate Crisis. All our churches are considering how to become carbon neutral by 2030.

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