THE winners of the 2024 Green Church Awards were finally revealed in an award ceremony in St John’s, Waterloo, in London.
The the Programmes, Partnerships and Advocacy Director for Embrace the Middle East, Dr Ruth Valerio, who chaired the judges, hosted the ceremony, on Thursday of last week. Three shortlisted entrants in each of the seven award categories attended, in addition to representatives of the awards’ sponsors, judges, and special guests.
After a welcome from a member of the clergy team at St John’s, and the Church Times, the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, who’s the lead bishop for the environment, opened with a creation-inspired prayer.
The Lighthouse Church, the Wirral, an eco-build developed by Heswall parish on Heswall’s high street, was announced winner of the Green Buildings category, sponsored by Inspired Efficiency, while St Cecilia’s C of E School, Wandsworth, in London, and the Corporation of the Church House were highly commended.
The Rector of Heswall, the Revd Martin Cannam, said: “We’re delighted to have won our category, but I feel much more pleased to be a part of a church initiative which is searching for to look after God’s creation and is celebrating actions that folks can take, each big and small, which are searching for to make a difference.”
In the Land and Nature category, sponsored by A Rocha UK (Eco Church), Chapel en le Frith Methodist Church, in Derbyshire, was announced winner for the event of the Townend Community Garden on the church’s land. The churchyard at St Luke’s, Sway, Hampshire, and the wildlife garden at St Matthew’s, Bristol, were highly commended within the category.
Mary Craner, Townend Community Garden lead, said of the award ceremony: “It’s been inspiring. There are things that we’re heard and thought: ‘We could do this’; so we’ve definitely got ideas that we will take away.”
The team said that they plan to place their £1000 prize money to fund a special project, fairly than towards general running costs. “We are limited using the surface space,” Jules Murdy said; “so, we’re wondering about some sort of out of doors covering that may be a everlasting space; which may enable us to have interaction with more young people . . . however the volunteers will probably have ideas as well.”
The Congregation and Community Action category, sponsored by Green Journey, was won by Watford Salvation Army for his or her community allotment. Highly commended were St Mary’s Episcopal Church, Dunblane, for ECO Fest, which has developed right into a week-long collaborative community event, and Holy Trinity, Barnes, in London, for its “Growing Together” community garden.
“We’re about to have our harvest celebration on the allotment; so we will certainly be celebrating winning this award at that,” Captain Mark Scoulding, Commanding Officer at Watford Salvation Army, said.
Captain Scoulding said that prize money would probably be spent on adding to the sensory engagement of the plot, for pupils from Cherry Tree Primary School, who assist in the allotment, in addition to to developing a latest creative project for pupils.
“Last yr, we grew a meal — vegetable soup and cheese and tomato pizza — but we’ve quite a broad demographic; so perhaps growing something from different continents. Hopefully, that may also engage parents and family at home otherwise, too.”
Samuel, aged eight, from Cherry Tree Primary, was on the award ceremony along with his head teacher. One of his favourite activities has been collaborating in “Taste Ed”: a programme to enable children to experience vegetables with their senses. Having grown “peas, tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots” on the allotment, he’s now attempting to grow vegetables at home.
The winner of the Green Health category, sponsored by the Conservation Foundation, was St Mary’s Therapeutic Garden, at St Mary the Virgin, Lewisham, in London. St Paul’s Woodland Garden, at St Paul’s, Camden, in London, and StPA Community Garden at St Peter’s, Quarrendon, in Aylesbury, were each highly commended.
Jane Boggan, certainly one of the volunteers at St Mary’s Therapeutic Garden, said: “It’s an awesome validation for the work that’s been occurring at St Mary’s.” And of the award ceremony she said: “There are so many truly interesting things happening, and that’s been really inspiring.”
In the Training and Education category, sponsored by BRF Ministries (Messy Church), Worcester Cathedral’s “Living Gently on the Earth” programme, developed to coach and educate people within the county on creation-care issues, was announced as winner of the category prize.
Highly commended within the category were the mini-farm, food-growing, and biodiversity efforts of pupils at Shinfield St Mary’s C of E Junior School, Wokingham, in Berkshire, and the diocese of St Albans Board of Education’s “Heart for the Earth” project, which is encouraging the diocese’s schools to develop into carbon-neutral.
Staffan Engström, a lay canon of Worcester Cathedral and chair of the EcoGroup, said: “We were most surprised, and in addition very happy to win the award, especially having seen the standard of the opposite shortlisted candidates. It is an awesome honour to win, which we hope will give opportunities to share our learning with others, and to learn from them as well.”
Jean Carletta, director of HeatHack, was the winner of the Green Champion category, sponsored by Stewardship. Joanna Laynesmith and Rosemary Croft, from St John’s, Reading, and Helen Bradstock, from St Helen’s, St Helens, on the Isle of Wight, were highly commended.
“I’m very honoured and grateful to receive this award,” Ms Carletta said. “It was wonderful to satisfy so many like-minded people, and the prize money means I don’t must worry about paying HeatHack’s basic costs. I can consider what to do next.”
The Action on a Shoestring category, sponsored by Green Journey, was won by St Mary’s CE Academy, Walkley, in Sheffield, for the event of its Eco Council and its wide-ranging environmental initiatives. Highly commended were St Matthew’s, Walsall, within the West Midlands, for work to the churchyard, and Christ Church, Abbeystead, in Lancashire, for its Partners in Environment youth group.
The diocesan environment officer for Sheffield diocese, Dr Cathy Rhodes, encouraged St Mary’s to use after seeing the varsity’s eco-garden, recycling, active-travel, energy-saving, and nature-surveying efforts. She said: “This is basically meaningful for them, since the teacher, Sylvia Roux, has quietly got on and captured the imagination of those children, and it’s set them a incredible foundation for the remaining of their lives, knowing about creation and the importance of taking motion. . .
“One of the things the Church can offer is hope and support, and the Church Times award has allowed us to rejoice what they’ve done. They are going to be absolutely over the moon.”
The church-operations director of the awards’ headline sponsors Ecclesiastical Insurance, Helen Richards, said: “Ecclesiastical were delighted to be the most important sponsor of the 2024 Church Times Green Church Awards.
“It’s really necessary to rejoice and acknowledge the work that churches across the country do, and these awards were an awesome technique to achieve this. We heard some incredibly inspiring stories from the entrants, and I would like to congratulate all of them, and particularly the winners, for the amazing — and hugely necessary — work they’re doing.
“It was an absolute privilege for Stuart Blackie, our principal risk-management surveyor, to be invited to hitch such a prestigious judging panel, and work with the Church Times and the opposite judges and sponsors to pick out the winners.
“I do know he found the technique of selecting between the numerous superb entries extremely difficult — though, at the identical time, it offered an inspiring and interesting insight into the vast range of activity going down to assist fight climate change and biodiversity loss.”
The 2024 Church Times Green Church Awards were organised in association with the Church of England’s environment programme, the Methodist Church, the Salvation Army and Eco Congregation Scotland.
ecclesiastical.com
inspiredefficiency.co.uk
arocha.org.uk
greenjourney.org
conservationfoundation.co.uk
brf.org.uk
stewardship.org.uk
