First ever green church awards

Press Release: 19/20 November 2007

The first ever Green Church of the Year award went today to Holy Trinity, Cleeve, Somerset. The church, which also won the Campaigning to Cut Carbon award, was praised for the range of initiatives it has taken. These include: a walking bus, to save parents having to drive their children to school; campaigning against the expansion of Bristol airport; switching to a green energy supplier; and much else besides.

Their award includes £1000's worth of carbon offsetting, further consultancy about how to reduce their carbon footprint further, energy saving lightbulbs, a low-energy washing machine, and others.

The Green Church Awards were conceived by the Church Times, the leading weekly Christian newspaper, in conjunction with the leading agencies working in the field of environmental awareness: Christian Aid, Eco-congregation, A Rocha, the Conservation Foundation, Tearfund, Shrinking the Footprint, Operation Noah, Living Lightly 24:7, Christian Ecology Link, and the Marches Energy Agency.

The full list of award winners:
Action in the Community
Joint winners:
St Barnabas, Queen Camel, Yeovil, Somerset
St Andrew s, Fulham, London

Biodiversity:
St Chad's, Far Headingley, Leeds

Campaigning to cut the carbon:
Holy Trinity Cleeve (only entrant but worthy of a prize)

Celebrating Creation:
St Peter's Bexhill

Changing Lifestyles:
Joint winners:
St Bartholomew's, Great Barrow, Chester
St John's & St. Philip's, The Hague, Netherlands

Energy Saving in Church Buildings:
St Aldhelm's, Edmonton, North London

Highly commended:
St James's Piccadilly
St John the Evangelist, Hurst Green, Lancashire
St Mary's, Welwyn
St Peter's, Spixworth, Norwich
Bramford Rd Methodist Church, Ipswich
St Mary's & St John's, Cowley, Oxford
Mill Road Baptist Church, Cambridge

For more details, email Paul Handley, Church Times editor (editor@churchtimes.co.uk) or tel: 020 7776 1061