Eco Church updates
ON THIS PAGE YOU WILL FIND INFORMATION FOR EACH MONTH DO KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MORE INFORMATION as the newest information is at the bottom!
Top Tips
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Each day pray for one thing in creation that you care about e.g the birds in your garden or even your favourite food. Thank God for it. This year we actively pray for Water Sheds Eco systems in Kenya as well as Christian aid projects and Tear fund.
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Set aside time each week to go for a walk (or look out of your window if you are not able at present) and actively appreciate God's creation, remembering how we are wholly dependent on it for our survival
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Become part of the Eco Group
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Help if you can with the 2021 BIG BUILD project
January 2021
The Dads and Lads Big Eco Build!
New Venture - St Cuthberts is to open up some raised beds to make an allotment area.
We are holding a Big Build on Saturday March 13th at 10am (lockdown allowing, following covid guidelines) and we will ask that you bring your own tools to help in this venture.
Dads and Lads will lead the way in making some accessible raised beds. One of which will be wheel chair height. As well as a small bed being outside the church at the front (small due to vandalism that has taken place) and a number of beds in the churches grounds.
The venture is to help with raising the mental health of our community, and to teach valuable skills to our younger members with the hope that family’s will take on rows or even a small bed and care for it.
As an Eco church It is hoped the veg will be able to be used by Aplace2B when it Re-opens for its lunches and making the food used local, organic and sustainable. We will also recycle and reuse materials for the rises beds. Any surplus can be sold each week in the summer months which will be put back into the funds for the allotment.
We have a young person lead Arren, who will manage any youth projects and who will help co-ordinate the big build and take over the care of some smaller tubs made by Eco diocese last year and is already growing strawberry plants in his greenhouse at home. Seeds can also be swapped.
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Below you can see the plan for the Church allotment design.
Why not join us in 2022 and take part in the RSPB - Big Garden Bird Watch. It takes place on 29-31 January. You can sign up and join in on www.rspb.org.uk and then share your photos with us and the RSPB on social media.
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Lets work together to encourage more wildlife into our gardens. Even the smallest of gardens can offer habitats for wildlife. The below tips are already some of the things we have done in the Church grounds to encourage wildlife.
Of course, the Queen is also inviting us in 2022 to plant a tree to celebrate her Diamond jubilee
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Tips
1. Put Up Nesting Boxes.
This is an ideal time to do this before spring so you do not disrupt the breeding season.
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2. Plant a Tree
Native trees will help attract birds and insects.
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3. Grow a Hedge
Hedges provide additional nesting areas for birds and small animals.
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4. Grow Wildflowers
Butterflies and bees are drawn to areas of wildflower.
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5. Cultivate a Wilderness Area
Leave an area of wild lawn to mimic a meadow.
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6. Hang a Bird Feeder
Hang a bird feeder filled with unsalted peanuts.
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7. Erect a Bird Table and Bath
A bird table provides a useful feeding perch away from predators and a bird bath provides a water source for drinking and washing.
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8. Attract Mammals
Offer Hedgehogs a safe place to hibernate in the winter by buying a hedgehog house.
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9. Create a Water Feature or Pond
If you have space for a pond this will diversify your garden ecosystem, or if not, even a small water feature will help to attract different creatures.
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10. Observe and Photograph
Share your photos with us on Facebook / Instagram and Twitter and let us know what has been going on in your garden now you have made these changes.
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February 2022
What does Eco Church mean?
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As an Eco Church we completed an online Eco Survey about how we care for God's earth in different areas of our life and work. For each answer we provided we collected points towards our Eco Church Award. The more we do as a Church the more points we get. There are three level of Eco Church Award - Bronze, Silver and Gold. We currently have a gold Award and are working towards our net zero. The Eco team focus on the following areas to ensure we meet the requirements for Gold and put in place changes that mean we keep doing the best we can
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There are five key areas that we need to work on as part of our church life:
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1. Worship and teaching
2. Management of church buildings
3. Management of church land
4. Community and global engagement
5. Lifestyle
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If you would like to be part of the Eco team at St Cuthbert's we can always do with more helpers, let us know.
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As a church and church community there are many things we are doing already and many more things we can do together. Being eco friendly is about celebrating creation, being good stewards with what we're given, and passing on those values to the next generation.
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There are lots of seemingly little things we can all do to play our part in reducing landfill waste, cleaning the air, and preserving the natural landscape.
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Here are small, easy, green choices we can make in our homes this February. Choose three that you're not already doing, and make them a habit this year. These are things we do in church and want to encourage the congregation and local community to do the same. Each month we will set new challenges so they eventually become the normal way of life for us all.
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Send us your stories and picture of what you have done in February, so we can celebrate the good news together and encourage others to do the same.
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March 2021
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March 4th we have managed to get our GOLD award! Well done to all on the team -
Work continues on the Allotment area and Wildflower area ready for the Big Build in April.
Our young Eco Warrior Arren is continuing to care for the youth area and over see works being done.
March 2021
APRIL 2021
Saturday 10th April 2021 10-4pm.
Come and Join in the Big build as we make our Allotment area for the community together all ages welcome bring any spare tools you may have.
(Covid restrictions will mean working in a safe and manageable way).
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10am-12pm April 17th 2021
Community Litter pick starting at Church in teams for the estate all welcome please bring bin bags and gloves.
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MAY 2021 and May 2022
Speak up
Use your voice to tell politicians that you want a cleaner, greener, fairer future at the heart of plans to rebuild a strong economy.
Read and sign the The Climate Coalition’s ‘The Time Is Now’ declaration both as a church and an individual.
JUNE 2022 & QUEENS JUBILEE
an exciting count of Wildlife within church grounds all over Britain
In June as part of the count we will be having a fun day with Activities for children this will link in with our Jubilee celebrations too and I'm sure we will have a big feast available come along and support us and have a great day out!
PLASTIC WILDFLOWERs JUNE 2022 for the following year
Two of our groups the CRAFTIVISM group with the help of APLACE2B will be making wild flowers out of plastic to highlight the problems with Plastic waste In the UK, we use 5 million tonnes of plastic each year but only a quarter of this is recycled. So we hope the flowers will help highlight the issue of plastic waste. Rev Laura is teaching people how to do this following a workshop with Faith Bebbington a visual artist who reuses plastic that would otherwise end up in landfill, to create beautiful creations including animals and flowers.
WE are using old plastic bags and crisp packets to make our beautiful flowers and we hope to make a display of poppies for remembrance later in the year
