EcoChurch

We are proud that St. Peter and St Paul Church is officially an A Rocha Eco church with a Silver Award!

A commemorative plaque is displayed on the porch as you enter the church, made from an old recycled church pew with a hand painted inscription. It’s a testament to our commitment to help maintain our local area in an eco-friendly way.

Below are some examples of how we have worked to demonstrate our service to God’s world around us, both locally and further afield:

Letting God’s Garden Bloom

Wildflower seeds were sown last autumn by the Great Missenden School Eco-warrior children and Church volunteers. These have germinated and are coming into flower.

Now that areas of the churchyard are being left un-mown, there is a good selection of new wildflowers emerging, producing much needed pollen for bees and other insects. For more information on the wild flowers in the churchyard click here for a recent survey.
 

Bug House!

 
In 2020 we installed a bug hotel in the churchyard called St. Beetle & St. Crawl. Our Junior Church group, MAP keep the hotel well maintained by collecting twigs, fir cones and dried leaves to make sure the St Peter & St Crawl bug hotel remains a cosy residence for our creepy crawlies. 
 

Eco-Cleaning

 
We use Eco Leaf cleaning products and the use of Bumboo toilet paper has proved to be successful.
 

Toilet Twinning

 
Junior Church has been involved with our effort too and managed the toilet-twinning project challenge. Going to the loo is something we all take for granted in this country but this is not so in underdeveloped countries.  
 
Through all their efforts to raise money, they have ‘twinned’ all of the toilets in the Church, the Church hall and Parish Office, raising much needed funds to provide facilities and hygiene education to communities in the developing world.

Burial Ground

The old burial ground has not been maintained for about 20 years.  It has become a haven for wildlife, however many graves have been completely overgrown with ivy and trees.

We are very grateful to the students and staff of Chiltern Way Academy who have spent many hours helping to clear old gravestones, uncovered a paved terrace and steps that were completely overgrown and a tarmac path leading to the burial ground.

Common Wealth War Graves

There are two graves dedicated to men who died as a result of the Second World War these are located at the top of the burial ground. We now have two official Common Wealth War Grave signs one located on the gates leading across the bridge and one located next to the steps leading into the burial ground.


 

Tree Survey

An Arborist carried out a tree survey to ascertain the health of the trees in the burial ground. The result of which identified several trees suffering with Ash dieback and these had to be felled.

We are grateful to Dr Katie Horgan who managed to obtain a grant from the Chalk Cherries and Chairs Charity to help pay for this work.