St Nicolas Church, Great Bookham is now the second Gold Eco Church in the diocese and 54th in England and Wales and helps us all take a step closer to our Net Zero Carbon goal.
The award was given by the Christian conservation charity A Rocha UK and reflects St Nicolas’ commitment to walk in step with nature and put creation care at the heart of what they do. With over 3,500 Eco Churches awarded, the Gold Award is a prestigious and impressive achievement!
The church community has had members interested in eco matters spanning the last 20 years. In 2004 St Nicolas’ PCC started a Social Responsibility Group in order to embed the use of Fairtrade catering supplies within the church and offer recycling opportunities for hard-to-recycle items to the local community.
Since then, they have worked with their local group ‘Transition Bookham’ to maintain the Pastoral Centre garden as a haven for biodiversity and become a community champion for Plastic Free Bookham; a campaign that raises awareness of plastic pollution and supports reducing single-use plastic.
The Gold Award assessors highlighted how caring for creation is integrated into every facet of the church operations, especially when it comes to managing their buildings and land. The team consistently factor in environmental sustainability and supporting wildlife.
In the garden, there is a dedicated eco wildlife corner inspiring children to learn more about nature that includes a small bog garden and a brilliantly named bug hotel, Bug-ingham Palace.
Alan Jenkins, Rector at St Nicolas’, said, “It’s been an incremental process. We achieved the Bronze Award in 2019 and the Silver 2021. In my humble opinion, you really need a team to help lead the way and it’s great that we have a team that are passionate and keep us sharp on the issue.”
A Rocha UK aims to equip churches and individuals to create a movement to help restore biodiversity at a local level in this critical decade for the climate. Now, in its eighth year, the ‘Eco Church’ award scheme brings together a national community of churches addressing the environmental crisis, using a common framework and an online toolkit to learn and speak up together.
With the first Eco Church award given in 2016, there are now over 7,500 churches registered with Eco Church - over 18% of churches in England and Wales. By 2025, A Rocha UK aims to engage at least 25%, or 10,000 churches, in ongoing efforts to protect nature and address climate change through the free program.
Helen Stephens, Church Relations Manager, explained “Our huge congratulations to St Nicolas’ Church, Great Bookham, on their well-deserved Gold Eco Church award. It has been a delight to read how they have been managing their churchyard and other garden spaces for the good of nature, including setting up a tree and wildlife trail for visitors to follow. There is still so much for us all to do, as they recognise but in the meantime, we hope St Nicolas’ Church enjoy celebrating this award and seeing others inspired to join them in taking action to care for this amazing world.”
Martin Carr, Net Zero Officer for Guildford Diocese, said: “It is a huge encouragement that the people of Great Bookham have risen to one of the great challenges of our times and are doing so much to protect God’s creation. The Diocese of Guildford is committed to embedding Eco Church into the mission of all our churches, as well as the Church of England’s ambitious 2030 Net Zero target. Hopefully, as only our second gold-awarded church, St Nicolas is blazing a trail for others to follow.”
You can find out more about the Diocese’s Net Zero Carbon plans and the support on offer for churches by visiting our website.