Members of the Eco Team at St. John's West Byfleet were delighted to receive an award for its first steps towards becoming more environmentally aware.

In January 2025, St John's was awarded an Eco Church Bronze Award from A Rocha.  A Rocha UK is a Christian charity working to protect and restore the natural world and committed to equipping Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environment. The project was started by a small group within the Church who were inspired by A Rocha's mission. Our work was based on completion of a detailed survey, with a suite of supporting resources, to help us ‘go green’ in all areas of our church life, including Buildings and Energy, Land and Nature, Lifestyle and Community and Global Engagement. 

In February 2024, we were pleased to welcome Surrey Wildlife Trust staff members, Emma and Esther to have a look around our church grounds. Despite it being a cool Winter's day, Emma and Esther pointed out many opportunities to make the space more nature friendly and quickly compiled a comprehensive ‘Site Visit Report’ which has been a key resource for us as we planned next steps. In Spring 2024, we observed No-Mow-May and left leaf piles in place rather than tidying them up. In Spring 2025 we are taking this further and are creating a wildflower garden and bee garden (having been told by Esther and Emma that we fall within 200m of a B-Line!). Enthusiasm within the congregation is growing and our gentle persuasion is enabling a greater understanding of the impact of the small changes we can all make in our lives to support nature.

Anyone passing by the busy junction upon which St. John's sits is welcome to take a moment in our surprisingly tranquil church grounds and check our progress.

Chris Adamson - St John’s Church, West Byfleet