FAITH IN THE COMMUNITY: From bug hotels to washing up
by the Rev Deb Vears, curate, Farlington parish
LAST year Farlington parish was awarded the Ecochurch silver award from A Rocha UK.
A Rocha is a Christian charity who promote the protection and restoration of the environment and work with churches of all denominations to help and encourage them to care for creation.
To gain the award, churches have to complete a survey about worship and teaching, buildings and energy, land and nature, community and global engagement, and lifestyle.
It is fairly extensive and gets you thinking about those changes, both large and small, that can be done to make the church more environmentally friendly.
Some of the changes we have made have been very simple, such as buying handwash and cleaning products from ethical and environmentally-friendly companies. Others have been more time consuming, including installing a cycle rack at St. Andrew’s Church on Havant Road.
One of the more fun projects was to establish a church garden at the Church of the Resurrection, in Penrhyn Avenue, Drayton. It includes a bug hotel (with a second one on the way), a herb garden and flowers, to name a few things. And we mow and strim strategically to encourage wildlife.
This garden project is ongoing and ever evolving and we reuse whatever we can, including an old tyre that was thrown over the hedge! Obviously, we can’t all do everything, and each church will have its limitations whether by location, size, money or other factors. We can, however, all do something, and those things add up.
We are currently working on achieving our gold award, which is definitely upping the game, but some of those changes that have been made have now become normal or second nature and changes we make in the future will do so as well.
We have some plans for this year which include a second bug hotel at St Andrew’s, Earth Hour, the Big Plastic Count and some parish walks.
We are very fortunate to have Farlington marshes in our parish which is a lovely location to walk and see birds and other wildlife. We will also, hopefully, host an event for the Great Big Green Week, in June.
If anybody wants to join us for any of these events, keep an eye on our Facebook page, or on www.farlingtonparish.co.uk for details.
ST ANDREW’S CHURCH, Havant Road, Farlington, Portsmouth, PO6 1AA
CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION, Penrhyn Avenue, Drayton, Portsmouth, PO6 2AP