The Eco Church groups from Holy Trinity Minchinhampton and St Mary’s Tetbury hosted a nature-friendly flower arranging demonstration called ‘Arrange for the future’.
Jennie South and Rosemary Bailey, two Eco Church representatives, organised the event to encourage their local churches to use seasonal, local and nature-friendly arrangements for church.
Beth Bruce-Gardner, Deanery Eco Ambassador (sustainable flowers), gave a demonstration to 24 participants from two deaneries.
The event was incredibly popular with a long waiting list of people hoping to learn more and try out the skills that Beth demonstrated. It is hoped that there will be more workshops in the future due to the amount of interest.
Rosemary said, “Beth was amazing and so inspiring. We all had a go ourselves and were also stars in arranging our flowers with no oasis – chicken wire was to the fore.” Oasis, the foam that is usually used to hold flowers in an arrangement, is made of plastic which is non-biodegradable, non-recyclable and toxic for both humans and animals.
Rosemary continued, “There was no plastic and there were no air miles. The beauty of the flowers themselves was a real act of tribute and praise to our God and a celebration of creation.”
If you’ve been inspired by this to find out more about making your church sustainable, why not ask your PCC to register as an Eco Church. Just pledging one hour a week to making changes towards a greener church will start to make a difference.
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