It may have been a day-dream, but I really thought I saw the sun this morning. However by the time I began walking up to St Luke’s, it was overcast, but very humid. Steve had kindly arranged for me to meet with 2 people. The first was Paul Beardsmore who is the leader of the Eco-Congregation team at St Luke’s. The Eco-Congregation project is actually separate to the grounds project, yet of course there are many overlaps, including team members. Paul and his wife Jillian first launched the idea of taking up the Eco-Congregation scheme only 2 years ago. Initially there was very little interest in joining his team, but there was general encouragement for the ideas involved. Slowly but surely a team was built and they now have 9 on the team. The first thing an Eco-congregation must to is complete a check-list / audit. Paul asked each ministry team leader to complete one for their group. Compiling these allowed Paul to identify the common areas that could become their focus for the first 3 modules required to complete. Each church is different but St Luke’s chose to focus on worship, grounds and personal lifestyle. When they felt it was appropriate, the audit forms were completed for the second time and compared. Representatives from Eco-Congregation then came out and assessed the church as to how much had changed, or been achieved in that time, and whether it was sufficient for their first Eco-Award. It was! This then encouraged them to tackle other areas.
As I spoke with Paul several aspects began to emerge with more clarity.
1. The Eco Congregation system provides an overall tool, or a lens, for all green issues.
2. It provides achievable steps.
3. It teaches people what difference they personally can make.
This diocese has a pro-active Bishop, +James Jones, and a very encouraging Priest, Pete Spiers.
Together Paul and I then met up with Agnes. Agnes is head of the Welcoming Team for St Luke’s, and a passionate member of the Groundforce team. She first showed me a display of the progress of the garden in their hall, and another display of old bottles they had found when digging the ‘bog’ garden. Someone had researched the history of these bottles and consequently provided very interesting information on each one.
We then had lunch at Crossroads Cafe. Crossroads Cafe is a story in itself. It’s run by the ‘Great Crosby Group of Churches’ which consists of 6 Crosby churches. Crossroads Cafe is on the edge of the site of St Luke’s, but has been built by, and run by this ecumenical group. There is one paid manager but the rest are volunteers so prices are very low. It gets used by all sorts of groups out of normal cafe hours as well. Back to lunch.
We conversed on various topics, meanwhile watching the rain increase. Another lady, Ann, was working furiously outside the window as well. Sometimes the local council drops off pots of flowers which are leftovers from when they replace all the ones hanging from lamp-posts etc. This morning they had dropped off 2 big trays of pots but asked that they be planted in public space, almost equivalent to a median strip. So, Ann was busily doing so! She personally cares for this particular area of the grounds so takes special care of it.
I had wanted to take photos (having not done so last night hoping for better light today), but the rain kept getting heavier, and I didn’t have my coat or an umbrella. I decided to have a wander around the little village, ducking into a few shops for cover, hoping that the rain would ease and I could go back to the garden. I wandered in circles for nearly 2 hours, and, much to my chagrin, was forced to purchase an umbrella!
Finally I gave up on the rain clearing so heading back to Steve and Jan’s. Apart from heading in the completely wrong direction to begin with, I also realised that I had no idea what street number they were. Normally I have quite a good sense of direction, and am quite sensible about making at least a mental note of things like house numbers, local landmarks etc, but today I hadn’t. Travelling from the west coast, to the east coast, and back to the west coast, has got me quite confused, especially without being able to see the sun for assistance! Many of the houses look alike so I had to try and remember what the front door looked like. I tried my key in one door but it failed. So I kept going until I found what I then knew to be the right place, and the key worked!
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