A County Durham church which looks after all things bright and beautiful has won the North East’s first Gold Eco Award for its work caring for the environment.
Only 25 of the top awards were handed out nationally this summer and St Mary Magdalene Church in Hart Village, on the outskirts of Hartlepool, was the only one in the North East to earn the honour.
Reverend Janet Burbury, who has overseen the efforts by parishioners across the board to boost the church’s climate-friendly credentials in recent years, says the award is as much a recognition for the community as it is for Hart Village Church itself.
She said: “It has been a real case of everyone pulling together to make this happen.
“We had people co-ordinating - eco team members Hilary Squire and Luke Mason - and that was important but it was a collective effort from the parishioners, people locally and even involved the local Beavers and Scouts and nearby schools.
“We were on a mission to reduce our carbon footprint for several years and as we kept on reducing it, the list of things we did just got longer and longer.”
Although the church, which dates back to 675AD, was limited in the changes it could make to its Grade One listed building, installing LED lighting throughout proved to be a key saver of energy.
”Old buildings can be part of the solution - you just do what you can, where you can, when you can,” said Revd Burbury.
Outside the building, the team went to work on a whole host of environmental improvements.
After a full botanical survey by the Tees Valley Nature Partnership work began on installing a hedgehog box, a bat box and bug hotels.
New wildflower areas were created which attracted butterflies and bees, attention was paid to making the most of the fish pond - something which gave a huge boost to the local frog population.
Elsewhere, bird feeders, bird boxes and bird watering stations were added and, most recently, an owl box, while some of the trees were replaced in the Community Garden.
Hilary Squire, who co-ordinated the outdoor work said: “It sounds as though you need a lot of land to win an award like this but you don’t - there’s a church in central London which has a Gold Award - so they can be achieved even in urban areas.
“There are five areas that you have to address - land, buildings, community engagement, lifestyle, worship and teaching - so there’s plenty to go at.
“And it costs nowhere near as much as people think - we’ve actually saved the cost of the LED lights in the first year for example.”
The award is the culmination of years of hard work which started small but took on a life of its own.
“It sort of evolved,” said Revd Burbury. “We were doing the work because we wanted to and in 2019 we won a bronze award and that helped give us a steer as to what we needed to do next.
“We didn’t do this just for the awards - we entered the awards because they were highlighting the good work being done - and we were delighted to get the silver award in 2021 and now the gold.”
She added: “What has been really exciting is seeing the community get involved with the work inside and outside the church but also in other ways - the changes that individuals make and commit to.
“Part of the application for the award involved reaching out to the congregation to ask them to do whatever they could and that was projected in the wider community.
“We carried out surveys and questionnaires, dropped leaflets and so what we were doing couldn’t help but be noticed - we handed out recycling sheets, hints and tips and we were open to ideas - such as using paper plates and sustainable cutlery.
“The work we were doing chimed with what two schools locally were doing, we involved the Beavers and the Cubs and we became a Fairtrade Church.
“We put solar lights on trees, planned a Community Garden and we tapped into the farming community which was pivotal.”
Now other North East churches are seeking St Mary’s help in shaping their own bids for Eco awards.
”It’s one of the top priorities now for Durham diocese,” said Revd Burbury.
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“And all the gold churches are part of a forum now - 36 in total - we were the 29th, in sharing best practices.
“It has been great to be involved in this initiative.
“It has helped bring people together across the Hart parish to do good things for the whole of the community, and I can only see good things coming from it.”
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