St James Dalby : Church & Community : Eco Church
“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches
is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum,
and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant,
think and do, we can, if we bother to try,
find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world. ” Michael Pollan
is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum,
and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant,
think and do, we can, if we bother to try,
find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world. ” Michael Pollan
Eco Church :
We've registered as an eco- church through the A Rocha Eco Church scheme with the understanding that this an integral part of our vision for our church and community & is a goal that we will continue to work towards. We're scoring gold in two of the sections; worship and teaching, and community & global; Silver in the Land category and bronze in Life Style ...... but our building category is still well in the black and so we need to focus on that one particularly!
Some of the on-going community initiatives are :
We've registered as an eco- church through the A Rocha Eco Church scheme with the understanding that this an integral part of our vision for our church and community & is a goal that we will continue to work towards. We're scoring gold in two of the sections; worship and teaching, and community & global; Silver in the Land category and bronze in Life Style ...... but our building category is still well in the black and so we need to focus on that one particularly!
Some of the on-going community initiatives are :
- Wood burning Stove : we've now got a new wood burning stove installed in the Community Hub ...... a very exciting new development to our Eco initiatives!
- Logging & Reducing our Co2 emissions : thanks to the efforts of Brian and Henry in maintaining our wood supply and in establishing the wood store we've saved on fuel again this year ; it’s been a really great asset ... and a lot of work!
- Dalby Community Woodland Project : the church is working in conjunction with this local initiative, having negotiated an exchange of wood for our fire, for the opportunity of the project using our schoolrooms for their meetings and to sell bags of timber at the Hub. The long term aim of the project is to create a sustainable source of fuel for the community.
- Community Chimney sweep : Rosie has coordinated the sweeps’ visit to the village so that everyone wanting their chimney swept in the has had it at reduced cost whilst reducing the number of trips by the sweep..... and the church got theirs done for free!
- Sunday Papers : is our weekly carbon-saving initiative which continues in strength, with a regular 18+ meeting on Sunday mornings. It’s a very relaxed and open group, whereby one person heads out to Peel, the nearest town 5 miles away, to collect the papers ordered by the group, their partner puts the coffee on ....... and we all sit and chat! Co ordinated by Kevin and Gilly,
- Plant stall : is a regular source of interest, income ... and work, particularly for Neil and a regular team of folk who pot up, split and divide, take cuttings and grow from seed so that we now sell garden flowers, herbs and shrubs, fruit bushes and veggies and wildflowers throughout the summer.
- Veggie sales: on a good summer when we all have surplus in our gardens we also have a roadside stall and honesty box for fruit and veggies.
- Seed catalogues & Community food growing: we circulate seed catalogues to the Dalby Growers which entitles anyone who is part of this group to an amazing reduction in seed prices, and usually means there's a fair amount of seedling swapping in the Spring in the schoolrooms.
- Fruit bushes: and we've planted fruit bushes in spare ground which has helped us with our jam production sold through the schoolrooms.
- Compost bin : The land here is really just a school yard, poor soil and windblown. So we've now got 2 compost bins, which take all the grass cuttings, church flowers, veggie peelings and hundreds of tea bags and developing rich compost.
- The garden . is now a well planted wild flower garden with early spring bulbs and perennials throughout the year and the two tubs on the road side make the approach to the building look much more welcoming, and is good for butterflies and bees, and a welcome rest to any passing hiker.
- Plastics recycling; as there are no recycling bins near Dalby we use an additional dustbin for recycling plastic bottles for church and the community use; the deal being the person who can't cram another bottle in, is the person who take the sack to the amenity site!
- Draft excluding : An on-going problem with an old building in an exposed location ! Ann has made us two 18ft snakes to fit the gaps between the screens to stop the wind coming howling through!
