HUNDREDS of hundreds of discarded candles are ending up in landfill every 12 months. That discovery so troubled John Powell, a worshipper at St Peter’s, Prestbury, in Manchester, that he began to gather the leftover wax from candles at St Peter’s and upcycle them into votives, with a view each to saving money and to helping the environment.
Mr Powell had not foreseen that the project would take off in the best way that it did. In December — after 18 months, hundreds of upcycled candles, and a Church Candle Challenge initiative — he found himself invited by the Royal Foundation to attend the Together at Christmas Carol Service, hosted by the Princess of Wales at Westminster Abbey.
“The Vicar’s waxing lyrical in regards to the Church Candle Challenge”
He describes meeting the Princess and “talking about candle-making along with her” because the highlight of his life. Moreover, the Foundation and the Abbey facilitated the gathering of no fewer than 891 processional candles after the service. They were loaded into black bin bags and put in Mr Powell’s automotive, for transporting back to Manchester.
He can be making them into container candles on the market at between £10 and £15. He expects to lift about £1000 for charity. “Churches use loads of candles,” he said on Monday. “I arrange the Church Candle Challenge to encourage congregations to bring their spent candles and containers to church to be upcycled and recycled, supporting the church, donating money to charities, and supporting Eco Church.”
He has produced ten video clips, available on YouTube, to instruct others in doing the method safely and efficiently. A former skilled golfer, whose hobby is drumming along to rock bands, he describes himself as being “as far-off from being a crafts person as you possibly can imagine”. He makes the candles in his utility room and garage within the winter and his garden in the summertime.
The candles that he made on the market at his church’s Christmas fair raised £650 for the Cheshire Without Abuse women’s refuge in Manchester. St Peter’s has not had to purchase recent votive candles for 18 months; and wedding couples are delighted to receive a candle inscribed with an image of the church and a text from 1 Corinthians.
“My goal is that churches throughout the world embrace this initiative,” he says of the Church Candle Challenge, whose slogan is Lighting up the World. “It only takes one person in the future a 12 months to make enough votive candles to last for a 12 months; so, if we could get a couple of thousand churches upcycling candles on in the future a 12 months, it could make hundreds of thousands of kilos for charity.
“It’s just like the Good Samaritan, deeds not words, love in motion. There’s even the metaphor of rebirth.”
Mr Powell stays in contact with each the Royal Foundation and Westminster Abbey, with which he hopes to speak further in the longer term. “Princess Kate is totally lovely,” he says. “Whatever she does, she does from the guts.”
He invites interested congregations to email: churchcandlechallenge@gmail.com
