The Graveyard Shift
This month’s blog post is reproduced here by kind permission of the author, Non Morris, and http://www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/
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W.I. AT WHITTON
In the hamlet of Whitton, Shropshire lies the tiny Norman church of St Mary’s, it’s churchyard a swaying sea of ox-eye daisies. Peaceful and hidden from the road, this place has remained largely unchanged for centuries. On Sunday 11th June St Mary’s was host to local WI groups, who came together to discover more about […]
DOE Students helping on Taskforce Day in Cusop
Hi Celia, please tell us a little about how your project began? Our beautiful churchyard and my love of nature inspired me to co-ordinate a God’s Acre Programme which has now existed for over 15 years. It first started with CFGA offering surveys of our trees and, at a later date, a lichen survey when […]
Birds, bats and butterflies – how a Churches Count on Nature event revealed hidden gems at St Mary’s…
We spoke to Rev’d Susan Blagden from St Mary’s, Caerhun, Conwy, Wales about their experience of joining in with the week. Hello Susan, please tell us a little about yourself. I am a Self Supporting Minister in Bro Celynnin, North Wales, which includes Conwy town and part of the valley. I am a Spiritual Director, photographer, Life […]
How St Matthews used iNaturalist to get their church on the map!
We spoke to Sarah Folkes from St Matthew’s Church, Salford Priors about their experience of joining in with the week. Hi Sarah, please tell us a little about yourself. I’m the Family Link Worker for St Matthew’s and I’ve been here for 4 years now. I love the variety of things that I get to […]
Celebrating the Beautiful Burial Ground Project
Executive summary by Harriet Carty, Director of Caring for God’s Acre After 4 ½ years our Beautiful Burial Ground project has come to an end. We are really proud of all that’s been achieved and feel there is a lot to celebrate. Don’t just take our word for it though! Here’s what our evaluator Heritage Insider […]
Snowdrops
The first known cultivation of snowdrops in the UK was recorded in 1597. While it is thought that pilgrims originally brought this beautiful flower to our shores, it was the Victorians who enthusiastically planted them in churchyards and cemeteries as a symbol of purity and hope. A wander through a burial ground at this time […]
Out & About with Opening the Ark
It has been a busy 9 months for Opening the Ark, since starting the project in November 2021 we have already managed to engage with over 500 people and counting. Our project is all about inviting the local community into their burial grounds to enthuse and engage them with biodiversity to be found there. We […]
Summer Flowers & Butterfly Spotting Guides
We have started a series of printable Spotter Guides to use at events or pop on notice boards to encourage visitors to identify what they discover. We now have summer flowers and butterflies which can be downloaded here. On these guides are details encouraging people to let us know what they find – helping put […]
The Beautiful Burial Ground Project Wins Award
We are absolutely thrilled that our Beautiful Burial Ground Project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund has been awarded the Best Practice Award for Knowledge Sharing (2022) by the CIEEM (Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management). This award ‘recognizes the high standard of professionalism and ecological environmental management practice’ and has been given […]
Bats in Holy Trinity Church, Tattershall
On a summer’s evening, the grand medieval building of Holy Trinity Collegiate Church in the pretty village of Tattershall in Lincolnshire comes alive. Hundreds of tiny, furry brown soprano pipistrelle bats swoop and swirl inside the church before slipping out through a small gap above a heavy gothic door into the surrounding countryside in search […]
Commonwealth War Graves – More than meets the Eye
 The author Barbara Cooper is a retired Royal Air Force officer and a volunteer for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). The views expressed below are hers alone and do not represent the CWGC. The main image shows the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, Ypres, Belgium Despite it being more than 100 years since […]