Acclaimed silver eco award for two churches in St Ives

The churches worked on their applications together, pooling their information on calculating carbon footprints and assessing their involvement in the community.

The churches host St Ives Eco Action regular climate cafés which are attended by many people in town and where useful discussions have been held on sustainable fashion, waste management, litter reduction and flood prevention.

The Methodist Church also hosts St Ives Eco Action’s Repairers who run a repair café to reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfill.

The silver award recognises community involvement of members in gardening clubs, helping out at Holt Island and joining in St Ives in Bloom activities.

Rev Dr Catherine Ball said: "As a church we have worked hard towards reducing our carbon footprint, and raising awareness of the fragility of our planet, God’s creation.

"We share care for the environment in partnership with other organisations in the town in order to maintain St Ives as a pleasant and attractive town."

Rev Nick Witham said:,"We are delighted as a church to receive this award as we have worked hard on reducing our carbon footprint and liaised with other organisations.

Rev Nicholas Witham of St Ives Methodist Church with Rev Dr Catherine Ball of St Ives Free Church. (Image: Rev Dr Catherine Ball.)

"We are committed to continue to base our future on sound environmental objectives. Caring for our environment and tackling climate change is just one part of our mission and outreach, but of course an important one.’

Helen Dye of St Ives Eco Action said: “By working together we can achieve so much more as a community to address the climate crisis and tackle biodiversity loss. It is truly inspiring to see how our local churches and other faith and non- faith groups in our town and surrounding parishes are finding ways to address the most important and pressing issues of our time”,