Silver Award - congratulations us!

A Rocha is a Christian charity, founded in 1985 to protect nature and the environment from further harm and destruction. (A Rocha is Portuguese for the rock, so quite appropriate for St Peter’s). One of its initiatives is the Eco Church programme.

In this, churches answer a 92-question survey that covers how a church uses its land and buildings, how we worship, our lifestyle and our engagement with local and global issues. The questions act as a prompt to consider and implement better, more thoughtful and eco-friendly ways of being church. 

After completing and submitting the survey, it is assessed against the criteria set by A Rocha and a church may be awarded a bronze, silver or gold award.

The Diocese of Manchester has joined the A Rocha eco diocese programme and is encouraging every church in the diocese to register with A Rocha and work towards an award. In 2020 the Diocese achieved the bronze award and is now pressing on to achieve silver.

Last year St Peter’s registered with A Rocha and we were pleased to announce in April that we have been given a silver award. 

Thank you to everyone who has been involved in this, for many hours of hard work and consideration, on behalf of us all and in service to God. 

At St Peter’s we are blessed with having a considerable amount of land which is the envy of many town centre churches. We have begun to make better use of our grounds to support wildlife. The children of Messy Church have put up bird boxes and bird feeders, containing various types of bird food to attract a variety of species. Last September they made and installed a bug hotel that allows insects, bees and other small creatures to find somewhere relatively safe to hibernate during the winter months.  

In the coming months we will build a dead hedge in the southwest corner of our grounds. A dead hedge is a contained mass of tree and bush branches and cuttings that will over a period of many years rot down to provide living space and food for insects and small creatures. 

For more information, see:

A Rocha International   Home - A Rocha International
A Rocha UK  A Rocha UK – Caring for creation 
Eco Church   Eco Church - A Rocha UK