Rachel Richardson sent us this report:
The Grouped parishes of Sandford and St Philip’s have been awarded an Eco-Congregation Ireland Award! It was a pleasure to welcome Maureen Rowan and Fran Brady, representatives of Eco-Congregation Ireland, to our united service on 15th June 2025. Helen Prendiville and Rachel Richardson accepted the awards on behalf of Sandford and St Philip’s respectively.
This award is conferred on any parish that strives actively to care for our environment. It requires evidence of consistent action taken within the four pillars of Eco-Congregation membership – namely Spiritual, Practical, Community and Global. Since our registration with Eco-Congregation Ireland in October 2022, we have submitted two reports of all our endeavours. We received our Awareness Certificate in 2023, our Endeavour Certificate in 2024 and now we are delighted to have received an Eco-Congregation Ireland Award in 2025.
In her address, Maureen congratulated the parishes and explained that one of the key things that we demonstrated was how “wide ranging our environmental work is and how many people are involved in keeping our activities going.” I couldn’t agree more. Thanks to Rev. Canon Sonia Gyles for all her leadership and continuous support. The Select Vestries and the Parish Development Committee have done a lot of work in registering our parishes and driving some of these initiatives. However, this award has been achieved from the efforts made by every member of our joint parishes, in all aspects of our parish life.
Those involved and who support The Garden Gang, Messy Church, Sandford Christmas Market, Bumper Book Sale, St Philip’s Spring Bazaar and Christian Aid. Those who have donated their used stamps for the Irish Peatland Conservation Council. Those who help maintain our beautiful buildings and who have helped with the pollinator friendly planting on our grounds. This award belongs to everyone.
With the climate crisis getting worse by the day, it is very easy to become disillusioned and overwhelmed by the huge challenge that faces us. But our collective efforts all add up and in receiving this award it acknowledges that lots of small changes can really make a big difference. This award has given us such encouragement and impetus to continue and improve on our environmental efforts into the future. Congratulations to all!
The above photo shows Helen Prendiville, Fran Brady, Rev. Canon Sonia Gyles, Maureen Rowan, Rachel Richardson.