Haveringland celebrates Eco Church Silver award

Festival church St Peter’s in Haveringland celebrated their achievement of Eco Church Silver at their annual ‘Cut and Rake’ event on Sunday 28 September with the Archdeacon of Lynn.

“This is where we strim and rake off the churchyard to ensure we continue to promote its meadow habitat,” explains Churchwarden, Nigel Boldero. After an hour or two a ploughman’s lunch was enjoyed by all followed by a short Harvest Festival service. Archdeacon Catherine presented Eco Rep Kate and Nigel with the Silver Eco Church award.

“As Haveringland Church is in a small village and would not support frequent services, we decided some years ago to adopt the ‘Festival Church’ model,” says Nigel. “This means we provide a minimum of six services a year, and the people attending these are not necessarily from the immediate area. So the notion of a ‘congregation’ with whom we can engage and promote sustainable ways of life has been a real challenge. We have held events such as an ‘Earth Day Festival’ to help promote environmental sustainability and as part of a group of churches we have been able to take advantage of initiatives across the group.

“Our church building was also in a bad state of repair but fundraising over the last nine years has meant that over £500,000 has been invested in critical repairs and improvements which have improved its environmental footprint and opened up the possibility of the building becoming a Community Hub, so engaging a wider audience with whom we can promote environmental sustainability. Other notable actions to promote biodiversity include managing our churchyard as a meadow habitat, installing bird and bat boxes and ‘Bugingham Palace'( a home made ‘bug hotel’) and working with neighbouring landowners to plant trees and take a collaborative approach to nature recovery.”

The Venerable Catherine Dobson, Archdeacon of Lynn, said “It was a great joy to be in Haveringland to join in the harvest celebrations and to present the Eco Church Silver award. Revd Andrew spoke about how our gratitude for God’s many blessings brings us to a place of generosity as we seek to share what we have with those around us.

“Twenty or so people from the village of Haveringland had spent the morning working together in the churchyard to encourage the diversity of plants and wildlife and enable them to thrive. There was a real buzz about the place as they enjoyed one another’s company, ate together locally sourced food and worshipped with ‘humble thankful hearts’.

“The people of Haveringland church had a vision for how this church in the fields could be a focal point for the community, and for other communities of interest locally which supported their bids for funding. This vision has inspired the wider community to share locally grown food, and to care for creation through village litter picks. There is real sense of passion in their care for all God’s creation and one another.“

“The really exciting thing about Haveringland’s Eco Church journey is that it has started to cause ripples in the community,” said the Revd Andrew Whitehead, Team Vicar for the Western Parishes of the Aylsham & District Team Ministry. “The work we’ve done as a congregation has spread out beyond our regular worshippers, and has inspired others to take up the cause of driving down carbon use and decreasing food miles. This is the vision of Eco Church – that the movement spreads and makes a real difference in communities across the country.”

Deborah Boldero was also presented with a “Litter Tsarina” award for rallying villagers to carry out regular litter picks which has been enthusiastically embraced. And the Archdeacon couldn’t resist an opportunity to take a short spin on Revd Andrew’s vintage tractor (on which he had travelled to the occasion)!