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.

Twenty or so people from the village of Haveringland had spent the morning working together strimming and raking off the churchyard to ensure continue to promote its meadow habitat, to encourage the diversity of plants and wildlife and enable them to thrive. After an hour or two a ploughman’s lunch was enjoyed by all followed by a short Harvest Festival service. Archdeacon Catherine Dobson, left, presented Eco Rep Kate and Churchwarden Nigel Boldero 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.”
 
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 they could promote environmental sustainability. Other notable actions to promote biodiversity include managing the 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.
 
For more on this story, with more pictures, visit Diocese of Norwich website.

Visit also the  Haveringland Church and Haveringland Hub Facebook pages.
 
The photos, including the picture of the Archdeacon taking a spin on a vintage Ferguson tractor, are courtesy of Diocese of Norwich.
 

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