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

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Eco Church :

We've now been awarded a Bronze Award as an 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 now planning how to move forward to reduce our carbon footprint  and maybe achieve a Silver award!   

Some of the on-going eco community initiatives are :

• Insulation : During the reroofing project on the church earlier this year we've had the full church roof insulated!
• Wood burning Stove :   we've 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 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 selling 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 by booking together we get a reduced rate whilst reducing the number of trips by the sweep.....  the church gets their chimney done for free!
   
• Sunday Papers : is our weekly carbon-saving initiative which continues in strength,  with a regular 18+ people 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.  
     
• 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.


• Wild flower border : the small stretch of land towards the Hub we're leaving as a wild flower area, this year we left it uncut to see what would naturally materialise , cut it in September with a scythe and will sow additional wild flower seeds in the spring: fingers crossed!

 

• 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! We've bought new draft excluders throughout, better but still now perfect!


• 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!
• Recycling: we also have in- house recycling of glass, Manx milk cartons, crips bags, cans, card and paper.
• Catering : As a community we're looking at ways to reduce our plastic use
• Napkins: We've replaced the napkins we use with much smaller sustainably sourced ones
• Loo Paper: we are now using Traidcraft Recycled Toilet paper in the Hub and schoolrooms
• New additions to the garden : Neil has made us a "gull-proof" bird feeder which our little garden birds are now very happily using, and Brian has made us our first bird box, in place and awaiting a resident!

• New Double glazed windows?!!!  We've just received a Faculty to get new frames for two of our church windows, to include double glazing on the inside which we hope will stop drafts and create greater insulation .  The said frames are so old and so tired that one winter a "long tail" ate its way through the frame to get into the church .....only to discover it was so cold inside , it then ate its way through the floor boards to get out again! So, .....much in need to replacing!