A CHURCH has followed up receiving a silver Eco award by pledging its support to the COP 26 conference in Glasgow by lighting its spire in green.

A St Mary’s, Ross-on-Wye, spokesperson posted a photo of the illuminated spire saying: "A slightly spooky looking St Mary’s Church this Halloween, but our spire is actually lit in green in solidarity with COP 26 as it begins today in Glasgow."

The spokesperson added: "Our churches are committed to the environment and at St Mary’s we have a team dedicated to that under the leadership of Rosie Winyard, our ’Inspiring Love’ champion.

"The team have been working hard through 2021 to complete the work needed for our Eco Church application and we’ve been given a silver award.

"As part of this, we’ve had to consider our response to a number of different areas.

"One of the great outcomes already is that the process is causing us to think more deeply about how we can improve many of these still further."

A recent service was devoted entirely to environmental issues, which included "a brilliant presentation" by Rosie that included music dedicated to the environment and concluded with a wildlife survey of the churchyard for ’Caring for God’s Acre’.

St Mary’s also scored well in terms of the building’s eco credentials.

"Almost all the buildings we are responsible for are double glazed, well insulated and are lit by efficient LEB lighting," said the spokesperson.

"We have worked hard at these things in recent years. The constraints of a Grade 1-listed building of course mean there are limitations - UPVC windows don’t look great in medieval window openings!

"And in particular we need to give some attention to the way we heat our main church building and to get a better balance between having a warm, welcoming building through the winter months and saving energy."

Other measures being targeted include rainwater collection, better use of recycled paper, fewer services using single use orders of service, provision of cycle racks for those able to ride to church, and consideration of energy conservation on the many hidden south facing roofs.

This year, church worshippers and supporters have set aside large parts of the churchyard as wildlife areas, including signs made to make it clear to the community why the grass is longer, to enable wildflowers to grow as well to attract insects and improve biodiversity, and putting up bird boxes, both which are supported by town charity EnviroAbility.

In terms of community and global engagement, the church has been working closely with Enviroability to develop a partnership, with the charity kindly agreeing to make the bird boxes and signs for the churchyard.

The spokesperson added: "We have also partnered with the charity Gods Green Acre to carry our our wildflower count which will be inputted into the nation bio-scientific diversity website.

"For the future we are planning to repeat this survey in the Autumn to identify fungi and other insects in our churchyard at that time of year."

St Mary’s also partners with Traidcraft to promote the sale of goods and support Traidcraft projects in other countries.

Church members are also working to reduce their own carbon footprint as individuals.

"Members of our church have offset their personal carbon footprint to contribute to offsetting the carbon footprint for St Mary’s church, which is very encouraging, but we recognise we need to do more as a PCC to take up this issue," said the spokesperson.

"We are encouraging the congregation to take part in Earth hour events and to pray for environmental projects both locally and nationally as we approach the next Summit on the Environment in Glasgow."

For more information, go to https://rossparishes.uk/eco-church