The Church of England has set a target for all it’s churches to be carbon neutral by 2030. This is an ambitious target which the Church is committed to achieve.

I am pleased to report that St. Paul’s Church, Tupsley has recently won a Silver Eco-Church Award.

The awards, bronze, silver and gold, are awarded by A Rocha UK, an ecological charity.

A small team of church and community volunteers meet every Friday morning through the year to look after the churchyard grounds.

We believe, as Christians that we are all stewards of God’s creation and should therefore do everything in our power to protect our planet for all future generations.

We have recently liaised with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust to make sure we are working in the best interests of our local wildlife, increasing bio-diversity and making the church grounds a pleasant and relaxing place for visitors and the local community.

In October we planted wildflower seeds, including yellow rattle on two grassy areas which will not be cut from spring through to August to allow the wildflowers to establish, flower and seed, as advised by the Wildlife Trust. Once established, the wildflowers should encourage bees, butterflies and other pollinators and give cover for other wildlife.

We have a bird feeding station which is topped up on a regular basis. One of our volunteers has built a bat nesting box and we are in the process of obtaining and installing some bird nesting boxes. We compost as much material as possible and have several “Wild Areas” to encourage wildlife.

We would like to thank Sarah King from the Wildlife Trust for her encouragement and advice and hope to continue our work in the most nature friendly way and maybe win a gold award.