St Michael's achieved its Eco Church Bronze Award in August 2023, quickly followed by our Silver Award in November. This is a significant step to our commitment to reduce our impact on the environment by making changes to how we operate, worship and care for God's creation.
The award scheme is an initiative run by leading Christian charity A Rocha and supported by the Diocese of Gloucester, which has committed to become carbon neutral by 2030, and aims to celebrate the ways that church communities have been engaging with caring for the Earth as a key part of our Christian faith.
Read more about our Eco Church journey here:
St Michael's achieves Eco Church Bronze Award
St Michael's won an award and cash prize for Excellence in Church Maintenance (England) at the 2023 National Church Awards, held by the National Churches Trust.
The Revd Tim Garrett and Churchwarden Ann Jessop received the award at a special presentation on 6 November 2023, at the Mercers Hall, compered by broadcaster the Revd Canon Ann Easter and comedian Hugh Dennis. (Photo credit: Mike Swift)
Read more about it on our blog:
stmichaelsbishopscleeve.co.uk/we-won-a-national-churches-trust-award
This bug house, along with a second one, was made by Ian Drake during lockdown. The insects use them to nest and also overwinter.
They can be made out of any container, and stuffed with items of varying density that will suit different types of insect – pine cones, straw, small sticks, shredded paper etc. You can also make bug houses out of stones and bricks, or an old log, with holes of varying sizes drilled in it.
If you take the footpath through the churchyard, from the main entrance towards Station Road, the bug boxes are to the left of the path at the back of the graves area, against the stone wall. We would love people to look at them – but please don’t touch or the insects will be disturbed.
There are a number of small, simple actions we've taken to care for our church, our environment and our world.
We all know that more needs to be done to care for our world, its people and animals – but it can seem daunting. Making small changes really can make a big difference.
Why not choose one thing from the list below to commit to do this year...?
If you would like to keep up to date with national Eco Church news and stories, A Rocha produce three publications which you can sign up to easily here:
Sign up - A Rocha UK
Bishop's Cleeve Church Office
St Michael's Centre
School Road
Bishop's Cleeve
GL52 8BA
Call / WhatsApp: 07354 874617
Email: admin@stmichaelsbishopscleeve.co.uk
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St Michael and All Angels is part of the Diocese of Gloucester and The Church of England