St Helen's Eco-Church Gold Award
On Thursday 5 December 2019, St Helen's Church received a visit from Simon Brown of A Rocha UK.
The occasion was our assessment for a Gold Eco-Church Award.
A group of parishioners met with Simon and his wife Elaine in the church, and talked about our projects and plans to promote environmental awareness and encourage sustainable living.
We explored the churchyard and walked through the labyrinth together. We then shared a lunch in church, when Simon announced that it was no longer an assessment but a celebration, as we had achieved a Gold Award!
We are only the tenth of the 2000 UK churches enrolled in the Eco-Church scheme to achieve the Gold award. This is as a result of Ali’s inspirational leadership and her insistence that the climate emergency, rather than being a peripheral matter for churches, is a central concern of the Christian faith.
Ali’s infectious enthusiasm has led to a wonderful year of creativity as new ideas have been taken forward and events organised by members of the congregation.
We now look forward to being a beacon for other churches on the Island and in the diocese that are interested in getting involved in the-Eco Church scheme.
Thanks to everyone for their commitment and hard work over the last year. There is still much to look forward to as our ongoing plans come to fruition and new ideas continue to emerge. Thanks especially to Ali, for motivating and inspiring us to begin this Eco Church journey.
