St Mary’s Islington has been awarded a prestigious Silver Eco Church Award and becomes one of just ten churches in the Diocese of London to achieve this status.

Insulation of the organ loft and supporting Green Christian with a large piece of research were to key steps taken to winning this award.

The scheme encourages lots of small steps to achieve ecological improvement across five key areas of church life: worship and teaching; management of church buildings; management of church land; community and global engagement; lifestyle. St Mary’s gained the Bronze Eco Church award in 2019, the plaque is mounted at the back of the nave at St Mary’s.

Rev. James Hughesdon said: “We are delighted to receive Sliver Eco Church status. It’s a huge credit to our Eco-Church team who have worked hard over the past two years to not only improved our church life green credentials but helped individuals care for creation. We look forward to adding gold to our plaque collection soon.”

In order to apply, and then qualify, for an award each church completes an online Eco Survey about how they are caring for God’s earth in different areas of their life and work. The answers provided are collated by A Rocha UK, who run the project, and converted into points, which translate into bronze, silver or gold awards.