Susan Rowe outlines the variety of activities that made the most of Great Big Green Week and Churches Count on Nature in mid-June in Hemblington. It’s a great example of working in partnership with others to care for Creation.
The Friends of All Saints Church, Hemblington, work hard to support the conservation management of the churchyards, to help maintain a habitat to support the wild flora and fauna in the area. The older southern churchyard has been managed by Blofield & District Conservation Group (BADCOG) for exactly 40 years this year, with a mid-summer cut then rake. The northern churchyard, donated to the church in the 1950s to provide space for new burials, was originally farmland, so had been treated with various preparations and was originally more problematic to manage. However over the years and with good management, it has become a very successful wildflower area, mainly thanks to the work of Joyce and Andrew Burtenshaw and the Bure Valley Conservation Group.
The Church team was also keen to enhance its ecological and environmental credentials, and joined the A Rocha Eco-church programme in 2022. Largely due to the management of its churchyards it has been awarded the bronze then silver awards.
Great Big Green Week and Churches Count on Nature offers the teams the opportunity to celebrate the beauty of the church and churchyard in the rather remote parish of Hemblington. This work is supported by the Caring for God’s Acre group, which offers advice, support, literature and webinars on all aspects of churchyard conservation.
This year we invited well-known local naturalist, David Bryant, to offer a talk to which everyone locally was invited. As David and others have undertaken one hour monthly surveys in the churchyards for the past nine years, he decided to base his illustrated talk, entitled “Wildlife in a Country Churchyard”, on the flora and fauna recorded there. Gratifyingly 27 people attended the talk, despite a very pessimistic weather forecast. In the event the weather was reasonable and David’s talk and photographs of birds, mammals, butterflies, dragonflies, bees and some wildflowers, together with various anecdotes of his life as a naturalist and photographer, entertained his audience for over an hour.
It had been the intention to then offer an hour of wildlife spotting in the churchyard, but the poor weather conditions – and promise of tea and cake in church, rather precluded this!
Invitations to attend had been extended to local Broadland District Councillors. Mr Jan Davis of the Green Party joined us for the talk and was very helpful afterwards with regard to local green initiatives. He commented “I really enjoyed the talk and visit. It’s such a lovely church and churchyard. Thank you for the invitation and I will certainly visit again!”
Another attendee said “My wife could not come along with me today, but I know she would like to see the pictures in your exhibition. I’ll bring her along next week.”
David was thanked for getting our Great Big Green Week events off so well, and the audience was invited to look at the exhibition of photographs, leaflets and results of annual surveys. They were also invited to consider joining the team at future monthly surveys – and enjoy the refreshments provided by the Friends group.
Sunday morning’s service (8 June) celebrated World Environment Day with Revd Sue Shillam selecting readings, music, hymns and reflection to highlight the beauty of God’s creation and what we must all endeavour to achieve for a safer, greener future. Download a copy of the service sheet HERE.
The southern churchyard was cut by BADCOG on Monday morning, 9 June, and although the cut hay in was wet, following the amazing electric storm of the previous night, a small team from BADCOG raked and carted it away on Saturday morning, 14 June. This was filmed in part by members of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, who are keen to show on their website what the Churchyard Conservation Scheme involves.
Members also offered to be involved in Norfolk County Council’s “AtoBetter” event in Blofield. This strategy “aims to bring people together and showcase some of the local groups, services and activities available in your area”. It provided a good opportunity for the team to highlight the work of the church in the area, together with the benefits to wildlife and to personal health and wellbeing by being involved with churchyard management.
Hemblington churchwarden Catherine Howe set up display boards featuring the environmental work undertaken at Hemblington, plus another kindly lent by Reedham church. She and other colleagues from the church and Friends group outlined the churchyard conservation work undertaken there, and the application of the eco-church scheme standards.
Catherine had informed colleagues about the proposed event and in turn other local organisations had agreed to attend to promote the work they undertook in the area. Blofield & District Conservation Group (BADCOG) set up a display illustrating how they manage many local churchyards, fens, meadows and woodland. The Blofield & District Gardening Club was also represented at the event, offering information about the talks offered at monthly meetings, plus the opportunity to see a wormery in action – of great interest to the children naturally!
Set in a rural area but with the benefits of a forward-looking clergy and church warden team, together with an enthusiastic Friends group, All Saints Church is happy to work towards environmentally friendly initiatives for its building and churchyard and invite the local community to become involved in all aspects of its work and worship.
For help with eco church and biodiversity advice, contact Barbara Bryant: barbara.bryant@dioceseofnorwich.org
For help with net zero advice, contact Ed Cotterill: ed.cotterill@dioceseofnorwich.org