12 Days of Christmas Thank Yous – 5th Day

5th Day – To all who help us look after our churchyard and the environment.

A big shout out to our wonderful team of Churchyard Angels, who meet on the first Saturday of every month (April – October) to help us keep the church yard tidy.

Thanks also to the Community Payback team who are here every month throughout the year. Also to the army of people who tend graves of loved ones. And thanks to EnviroAbility for their help with wildlife projects and signage. Special thanks to John Setchfield, who manages it spends a good deal of time in the open churchyard, often unnoticed.

We are well supported by our local firms to funeral directors and monumental masons who also take great care of our churchyard. Thanks especially to Abbotsfield, Bevans and to Nigel Cave who is currently repairing, free of charge, a war memorial damage by a falling tree in the recent gales.

Ross  Town Council do a wonderful job of managing the care of the open churchyard and this year used a considerable budget to resurface the very wide path from the Prospect Gates to St Mary’s Hall. Next year they will refurbish the Plague Cross.

Rosie Winyard is our Eco Church and environmental champion. Look out for an extended focus on the Environment in March. We are also grateful to Greg Collier-Jones of Seven Wye Energy Agency who spent some time with us this year looking at ways in which we might work more towards achieving net-zero status, all sponsored by the Church of England.