Edingthorpe’s Silver Eco Church journey

David Beecroft, Eco Church Rep at All Saints in Edingthorpe enthuses about their creation care journey.

Collectively, we all talk about our Eco Church journey; starting the programme surveys and working to an award. For All Saints, Edingthorpe, I think we were already on that journey and I suspect that is the same for many other churches. The realisation came when I attended one of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and Diocese of Norwich “Holy Habitats” listening workshops and talked to others. A suggestion to the PCC added the role of Eco Church Parish Rep to my existing Churchyard Officer role!

Aiming for Bronze seemed sensible; we could already achieve that in the Land & Nature mission. It was September 2025 and it was evident that all PCC members cared and were supportive of this challenge. Together, we worked through the mission surveys. Any question we couldn’t answer quickly was left unanswered – we moved on; this worked well as we brought the individual surveys up to Bronze level and then we carried on… all of sudden Silver was within our grasp.

My observations about the surveys. The wording is aimed at urban, Victorian edifices that are in frequent use. This means you have to think laterally to answer some questions, particularly when considering a small, C14^th, rural church that isn’t in daily use. “No” is a valid answer so don’t be overly concerned; it either means it is not applicable or you have not done it yet. The one question that caught us out was Q3 of Buildings & Energy; it is compulsory for the CO₂ calculation to be done for submission of the surveys.

Yes, we had done it! The Silver award level was achieved. I had the pleasure of receiving the plaque on behalf of All Saints from Master James Warner (our vicar’s son); he made a group of hard-working people very happy.

This programme stops you ‘hiding your light under a bushel’. Work at it, complete it and you’ll be surprised how good the recognition for caring for God’s creation feels.