St Mary’s Church in Hanley Castle, just outside Upton on Severn in the south of our diocese has become the first church in the Diocese to achieve a gold Eco Church award, which was recently confirmed following a visit from the A Rocha assessment team!
Sue Adeney, NSM Minister and diocesan Eco Church lead, travelled to London this week to lobby her MP. She joined with approximately 5,000 people from across the country whose organisations were asking MPs to ‘act now, change forever’.
On Wednesday 9 July, the Revd Sue Adeney from our diocese will join thousands of people from every corner of the UK in Westminster for a mass climate and nature lobby and deliver a powerful message to our MPs.
To mark Environment Sunday, and buoyed up by Great Malvern Priory’s Silver Eco Church Award, the Priory’s Environment Group led Altogether Worship, as part of setting the Priory’s sights on the Gold Eco Church award.
Love your burial ground week and churches count on nature runs from 7 – 15 June. It’s a week dedicated to celebrating our churchyards and the biodiversity which can found there.
Last month, members of the diocesan Education and Net Zero teams were invited to speak on the Diocese’s net zero Carbon work along with local MP Cat Eccles at a School Council mini conference hosted by Oldswinford CE Primary School.
Last year 66% of churches in our diocese completed the Energy Footprint Tool (EFT) to help them understand their carbon footprint and heating needs. So far this year just 18% of churches have taken up the opportunity.
Bishop Martin recently attended the first conference for the Sustainable Church Flowers movement, held in the Chapel Royal at St James’ Palace.
Pupils from Hindlip CE First School have taken part in an exciting environmental initiative, planting over 150 trees in Bull Meadow, Fernhill Heath. The Year 3 and 4 children, armed with shovels and big smiles, worked together to create a greener future as part of a national tree-planting experiment.
St Mary & St Milburgh Church in Offenham has recently become a Silver Eco Church. PCC member Debbie Harrison has led on the work and the award was presented at the church’s patronal festival last Sunday.
Since starting in 2007, Earth Hour, which takes place on 22 March has been known for the “lights off” moment, with individuals around the world switching off their lights to show support for the planet and raise awareness of the environmental issues affecting it.
Ian Hill has joined the net zero carbon project team of specialists working across the dioceses of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester. Ian will provide a schools focus to the team, which is also focussed on reducing the carbon footprint of our clergy housing and church buildings.
Earlier in the year, Great Malvern Priory achieved their Silver Eco Church Award. The work was led by the Priory Environmental Group, who looked at every aspect of Priory life from an eco-perspective.
Members of St Nicholas Church in Warndon, Worcester have been involved in a project to increase the biodiversity in their churchyard. They successfully applied for a grant from Natural Networks which has enabled them to plant a total of 712 plants and install six birdboxes and two mini ponds.
Mark Carter is expanding his role to become diocesan Director of Church Buildings and Net Zero as part of the diocese’s increasing focus on the climate crisis agenda.
Tardebigge parish have launched a new Forest Cafe church at St Bartholomew's that meets on the first Sunday of the month.
An exciting new partnership between the dioceses of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester is set to give a boost to the region’s push for Net Zero Carbon by 2030.
Christ Church in Coseley, in the far north of the Diocese, has recently installed two bee hives in their churchyard, which they hope will help them engage with the local community as well as provide them with honey which can be sold to raise funds for the church!
Parishes will now be able to apply for grants of up to £5,000 to help deliver small scale Net Zero Carbon works thanks to a new funding stream from the national church.
We have been awarded a grant to improve the carbon efficiency and running costs of two clergy houses to help reduce our environmental impact as we journey towards net-zero by 2030.
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14th August 2025