The Church of England Parish of the West Coast encompasses five church communities: the Cathedral in Peel, Dalby, Michael, Patrick and St John’s.
Our churches are exploring the challenge offered by A Rocha to become Eco Churches (www.arocha.org/en/projects/eco-church/). This involves looking at all areas of church life:
• Worship and teaching
• Management of church buildings (if applicable)
• Management of church land (if applicable)
• Community and global engagement
• Lifestyle.
There are three levels to attain. Dalby and Patrick have achieved the bronze award and the Cathedral is delighted to have gained the Silver Award in 2019.
The Cathedral has set up a range of bird boxes and is hoping that swifts might nest in the tower next year. Advice about biodiversity has been provided by Manx Wildlife Trust and Manx BirdLife. Tours of the gardens can be arranged.
Current activities range from the straightforward to large investments: from changing to LED bulbs to gaining planning permission for under-floor heating using air source heat pumps.
We now have all the necessary permissions in place – and about half of the money we need to transform the Cathedral into an attractive, useable, space for a wide range of community activities.
The parish recycles as much as possible and composts cardboard and vegetable matter. Waste associated with building projects is recycled on site wherever possible. If disposable catering products are used they are compostable. There are now 14 wheelie bins by the car park entrance which accept glass, plastic, paper, tetra packs and cans; cardboard can be added to the compost heap behind the Cathedral. In the academic year 2020-21 seven tonnes of waste was recycled, courtesy of the Western Amenity Site. In the first seven months of 2021-22 we have already recycled nine tonnes.
The Parish of the West Coast supports local farmers by buying home-grown products for catering where practicable. The five church communities attract visitors to their well-managed grounds (cemeteries, gardens, orchards and allotments) as well as their historic church buildings which are rich in local heritage. There has been considerable new planting, which has included large numbers of trees and almost a kilometre of new hedging.
The Parish of the West Coast aims to serve the local community and its congregational members have been responsible for recent developments associated with the Island's Foodbank, Credit Union and Big Table Café; the latter is a pilot scheme at the Cathedral that offers lunch on a Monday to all, regardless of ability to pay.
All churches in the Parish of the West Coast are open to the public during the day. They are currently working on creating visitor facilities and offering a more focused destination for learning outside the classroom for schools.
