St Leonard's, Balderstone, Blackburn

'Spiritual':

Flower Festival July 2004 - During our anniversary year we ran a flower festival with displays that reflected important aspects of our history and of the community as it existed at the time. This was complemented with a craft exhibition where members of the congregation could celebrate and share the talents they have been given. On the Sunday evening we hosted a Songs of Praise and invited members of the congregation from the churches in the local ecumenical forum, to give thanks for our church and for the wonders of the natural world which allowed us to express ourselves in flowers.
Captain Noah and his floating zoo - During the anniversary year the choir – including the junior members – performed this musical which celebrates God’s creation and underlines the need to conserve and protect that creation.
Mission Weekend October 2005 – Topic “Poverty, wealth and the environment”. The Friday evening saw an all-age talk by Sue Lord about Mercy Ships. Each section of the Church community had its own focused session on Saturday and addressed one or more aspects of the general topic. On the Sunday we ran a service of celebration, during which each group fed back to the rest of the congregation, what they had been doing on Saturday. The speaker was Cath Greenlees from Christian Aid, who talked about Fair Trade and her experiences while visiting developing countries where Fair Trade had made a difference to the lives of the people This was followed by a “Fellowship with Poverty Lunch”, a Fair Trade stall, and displays from the work of all the groups. Throughout the weekend there was a bookstall with materials about the Christian response to the environment and the international poverty gap. A collection was taken during the lunch and £350 was given to support the work of Christian Aid.
Harvest 2006 - A special service with the theme of waste reduction and environmental pollution was organised. In advance of this the Sunday School had been learning about the creation story and had prepared two wonderful pictures of the creation as presented in perfect order and balance to mankind by God and then the effects of man’s influence on the natural order. In the service children from the day and Sunday schools were invited to bring up a week’s worth of plastic bags from the family shopping – which were exchanged for unbleached cotton bags. We also introduced this concept to all the other churches in the local ecumenical forum, and they did the same thing in their own harvest services. In advance the children from the Sunday School and the young people from the Post Confirmation Group were invited to make environmental pledges as a result of the preparatory work they had done. These were written on green leaves and fixed to a pledge tree. At the service there was a list of potential adult pledges and blank leaves for people to add their own commitments. The vicar and the head of the day school publicly announced their own pledges to set the ball rolling. The day school did a presentation on Fair Trade to complement work that they had been doing in class
Family Service March 2007 - took the theme of God’s beautiful world and in the service children and adults alike participated in the creation of a depiction of the beauty of the environment in which we are privileged to live and work. As it was also Fair Trade fortnight, there was discussion of all that in involved in the production of something as simple as a cup of tea, and the implications both for the producers and for the environment.
Uniformed organisations - The local Cubs and Brownies are community groups, not linked to any particular Church, but both groups are run by members of our congregation, and other members of the congregation have been in to assist with badge work, including the Environment Badge. Interactive group work was organised to consider waste, recycling, water saving methods, food miles etc.
Post Confirmation Group Lent project - in line with the ‘Love life – live Lent’ materials the young people discussed doing something positive for the general local environment instead of giving something up for Lent, and many chose an environmental commitment.
Joint environmental projects with the day school - Both Church and school have recycling collections and we work together to support each other. The school collects batteries, the Church collects stamps, printer cartridges and mobile ‘phones as well as all sorts of clothing, furniture and household goods which are sent to needy people abroad via the International Aid Trust. Members of the congregation make new greetings cards from old ones – the school helps to collect used cards. The school has a gardening club and is supported by various members of the congregation. The parent teacher association is buying water butts to harvest water from the Church roof for use by both the gardening club and members of the congregation tending graves in the churchyard. The school is Fair Trade aware and is moving towards the Eco-Schools award at bronze level. Some of their activities are: recycling of all scrap paper from classrooms and the office, infant children encouraged to put the waste from their free fruit into the compost bin provided, older children taken on a visit to a recycling centre in Preston. The day school has Healthy School status.
Parish walks - every other month there is an organised parish walk after Church on a Sunday. At other times, for special occasions there are organised walks, and a member of the congregation produced a book of well researched local walks as part of our Millennium celebrations.

Practical:

Heating - new high efficiency oil-fired boiler fitted December 2005. Although it is shared with the school we are now in a position to monitor how much oil the church uses. The boiler is controlled by a thermostat and timer switch. Heating pipes in the cellar under the vestry have been lagged (December 2005). Mid-week input of heat into church reduced December 2005 to the safe minimum level for safe maintenance of the fabric of the building. Heating cycle modified December 2005 to minimise heat input without producing uncomfortably low temperatures at time of occupancy. Our combined use of oil (Church and school) has dropped significantly since the installation of this boiler.
Lighting - Low energy light bulbs fitted to all the lantern lights in the nave in April 2006.
New unisex toilet facilities - completed summer 2006. It has disabled access and baby changing facilities. It is equipped with environmentally friendly cleaning materials and hand-wash as well as recycled toilet paper. The electric hand drier is on a timer.
Vicarage - Has recently had additional insulation in the loft to conform to current requirements. Boiler new 6 years ago – serviced regularly. Victorian building so no possibility of cavity insulation. Low energy light bulbs used in nearly all locations. Water cylinder is new, so has hard-case insulation as standard. Shower available. Heating controlled by timer and thermostat facilities. No double glazing, but all but two windows fit well and thick curtains help to keep heat in. All appliances in the vicarage are 6 years old or newer, so conform to modern environmental standards.
Rain water harvesting - The parents’ association of our school is buying water butts to harvest rain water from the church roof so that both the gardening club and people tending graves in the churchyard can avoid using first grade water from the outside tap as far as possible.
Disability provision - There is reserved parking immediately outside the lych gate for the disabled. Access to the Church is via a straight path from the road and there are no steps into Church. There are double doors to allow access to wheelchairs / push chairs. In 2006, two pews half way down the Church were cut short on the aisle side, to allow space for wheel chairs and push chairs. We have a loop system for the hard of hearing. Signs in church and its environs are in clear, large print to aid the visually impaired, and there are large print service sheets. Handrails were fitted to the chancel steps in 2005 to ease access for the elderly and disabled to the communion rail. A handrail has been fitted to the external steps into the vestry.
Finance: money management and investment - 95% of our investments are organised through the Anglican Church and will therefore be ethical investments. The remaining 5% will be checked out as will the environmental policy of the bank we use.
Fundraising - Regular fundraising events (Christmas Fair / Garden Party / Fairtrade Coffee Morning / Kylnclough Garden Party) all have bring and buy stalls or other stalls which allow for the recycling of unwanted items (both new and second hand) including: books, videos, DVDs, toys, plants, prizes for tombola/raffle, gifts etc). In 2006-7 we have run two recycling projects to raise money for charity / Church funds – these are crosses made from the wood taken out of the pews to accommodate wheelchairs / pushchairs and recycled greetings cards.
Giving - we choose four or five charities to support each year direct from PCC funds and then respond to other requests from charities as they arrive (personal donations / retiring collections/ special fundraising events) usually after the work of that charity has been mentioned and prayed for in a service. In 2006 one such was the Water Aid International Toilet Day appeal. In 2006 we encouraged other members of our ecumenical forum to joins us in an Aquabox project and together we raised £1500 to buy 30 Aquaboxes and then worked together to fill them with humanitarian aid materials, many of which can be good quality second hand goods – so also a re-using / recycling project.
Catering - We have just purchased unbreakable melamine ‘crockery’ for use at Church social events, so that we no longer need to use disposable plates etc. which eventually end up in landfill. We don’t generate plastic bottle and aluminium can waste as we provide the children with diluted squash or fruit juice which is poured from a jug into reusable melamine mugs. We use Ecover washing up liquid or an equivalent environmentally friendly product.
Minimising waste - At the back of church we have collection points for printer cartridges (Woodland Trust), mobile ‘phones (Woodland Trust), stamps (RSPB), batteries, used greetings cards (after Christmas 61Kg of waste card was taken to Woodland Trust collection points). At harvest 2006 we promoted the use of unbleached cotton shopping bags which were given to the children in exchange for a week’s worth of plastic carrier bags from home.
Food supplies / Fairtrade - in 2006 we received certification as a Fairtrade parish. All organisations within the parish use Fairtrade coffee, tea and sugar, and often biscuits or cakes etc made using Fairtrade products. Each year we now run a large scale Fairtrade coffee morning during Fairtrade fortnight. We have persuaded our ecumenical partners to work with us on trying to work towards becoming a Fairtrade Area. Now some local shops are stocking Fairtrade goods, an increasing number of businesses are providing Fairtrade refreshments for their workforce, all four Churches have Fairtrade certification, three local pubs / restaurants are now serving Fairtrade tea and coffee and all three schools are working towards a Fairtrade award.
Promoting recycled and green products - During our mission weekend we had a display of the full range of Ecover products. These or their equivalents are used in all aspects of Church life. The Fairtrade stall always carries recycled kitchen towels and toilet rolls and these are used as appropriate.
The churchyard - This is always carefully maintained and always looks neat and tidy. In the churchyard extension area, the school has been allowed to have a small allotment where the gardening club grows vegetables and plants bulbs and flowers. Their produce has been prepared by the school cook (pumpkin soup / potato salad / leek and potato soup / beetroot / radishes etc) and eaten by the children, so that the link between plant and plate is established. The gardening club has established composting facilities, there is a collection place for the production of leaf mould and there is a log pile. We have an ancient churchyard with mature trees, which provide shelter for birds and insects.

Reaching out:

Mission weekend October 2005 / Harvest 2006 - a variety of green actions advertised / green pledge suggestions displayed to an audience wider than our regular congregation.
Church magazine - regular ‘green corner’ with suggestions of things families can do to reduce their environmental footprint as well as ‘thought for the month’ quotations as food for thought.
Uniformed organisations - work on waste minimisation / recycling, reducing water consumption etc done with the young people by members of the congregation.
Social invitations to watch the DVD of Al Gore’s ‘An inconvenient truth’ issued to members of the Church and the wider community.
Management of the churchyard - as a model of what can be achieved in the domestic situation
Helping members of the school gardening club - to understand about composting, reducing the use of peat, growing your own food, reducing food miles etc.
Re-use - Through our work for the International Aid Trust which sends humanitarian aid to needy people in the developing world, we collect clothing, furniture and household goods and transport them to the IAT. Groups of people go regularly to work in the warehouse at IAT to sort donated and pack them ready for transportation. The Aquabox project saw many domestic goods sent as humanitarian aid to part of the world suffering disaster / emergency situations.
Spreading the word to the wider community - we encourage our ecumenical partners to join us is many of our projects and shall continue to do so. If given the award we shall use the opportunity to spread the word via press coverage. Our school and the local uniformed organisations deal with children who are not necessarily regular Church attenders – indeed some children are from ethnic minorities – so our influence can and will be wider than the narrow confines of our parish and congregation.
Just gifts - at our mission weekend we launched the idea of just gifts via Christian Aid, Oxfam, Farm Africa, Send a Cow, etc. Many people in the parish now use this sort of giving which substantially reduces the environmental impact of Christmas and other celebrations (packaging, unwanted gifts, gift miles for delivery etc.etc.) Members of the Sunday School donated their pocket money so that they could send a goat to Africa.
Harvest gifts - Some fresh harvest gifts are given to the sick and housebound of the parish, but tinned and long-life gifts are also donated to projects for the homeless in Blackburn.
Harvest sharing - At harvest, we invite members of our sister Churches to join us for the Thursday evening service followed by our harvest supper. All the food is cooked by members of the parish and most of it is sourced locally.
Children’s Society boxes - 53 members of the congregation have collection boxes to support this worthwhile charity. At Christmas the collection from our Christingle service is sent to the Children’s Society.
Teddies for Tragedy - on a year round basis, a number of members of the congregation knit teddies that are sent out to third world countries or disaster areas to help the recovery of small children. During Lent 2007 we have joined in a project with our ecumenical partner churches to have fellowship with one another while we knit, and to have a useful outcome from that fellowship. Materials used will be donated leftovers from larger knitting / sewing projects.
Vicarage family - setting an example to the parish, the vicarage family uses environmentally friendly cleaning products, an environmentally friendly nappy system for their young children, turns off all appliances when not in use, has a water butt and a wind-up radio. In the garden are a log pile, a compost bin for organic kitchen waste, bird feeders and nest boxes. No pesticides are used. All contact between the vicar, the wardens, members of the PCC and various committees is via e-mail rather than paper – with extremely few exceptions.