A church in Powys has become the first in the county to receive a gold Eco Church award.

St Tyssil’s in Llandyssil is only the third church in the Diocese of St Asaph to achieve the gold award and only the sixth in Wales. The award acknowledges a church’s commitment to walk in step with nature and put creation care at the heart of what they do – in their worship and teaching, use of buildings and land, community and global engagement and by making lifestyle changes.

Eco Church is run by the Christian conservation charity A Rocha UK and assessors visited St Tyssil’s at the end of June to confirm the award. They highlighted several initiatives which impressed them:

• the porch has book and seed swaps, jams, eco noticeboards, nature leaflets and species identification posters and recycling boxes
• recycled slate tiles from the church roof, now have portions of scriptures on them dotted around the outside of the building
• outside are two swift boxes, which have resident swifts, and an old teapot and kettle now contain bird nests
• a growing area has runner beans, potatoes and tomatoes which are doing well and there’s a bike rack made from a recycled wooden pallet
• the lights have been changed and a new boiler installed, and there are delightfully created quilts for the congregation to put over their legs during services if cold
• the Mission Area (MA) Eco newsletter is great and very informative to all the churches.  It is clear that this church influences and encourages other churches in the MA with the sharing of ideas and experiences.

The Vicar of St Tyssil’s, the Revd Paulette Gower, said: “I am delighted that the hard work of the church and local community has been acknowledged with a gold Eco Church award. The churchwardens work hard to encourage both the congregation and local village to strive for eco-excellence. The green space around the church building means we have room to grow food, to create environments to encourage wildlife and areas of calm for prayer and meditation.

“All 16 churches in the Pool Mission Area have a Bronze Eco Church award, with five churches having silver and Llandyssil attaining gold. We’ll be having a celebration for all the churches on Sunday 24 August here at St Tyssil’s.”

Delyth Higgins the Wales Eco Church Officer said: “The judges were warmly welcomed by the small team at the church, and we were impressed by the care, thought and hard work over so many years that has gone into all they have achieved. Reaching gold is a huge achievement and we would like to congratulate you all on the Gold Award.”

In 2023, St Peter’s in Llanbedr become the first gold Eco Church in Wales. It was followed soon after by St Sadwrn’s in Henllan. Since 2016 only 100 churches across the UK have achieved gold Eco Church status.

There are thousands of churches taking action through Eco Church, with over 8,500 churches registered with the programme and more than 3,400 who have achieved bronze. The Diocese of St Asaph is encouraging all its 200+ churches to be registered with Eco Church. If your church hasn’t yet registered, get started here: ecochurch.arocha.org.uk.