Members of the Net Zero team attended and exhibited at the recent conference ‘Building Sustainable Futures for Scottish Churches’, held in the magnificent Paisley Abbey. Jack Nevin, Iain Johnstone and Bethany Nelson (pictured above) spent the day networking and sharing about the work being undertaken by the Net Zero Team.
The event was organised by the National Churches Trust in collaboration with many funders and advisors. We heard some encouraging plenary talks from dedicated organisations working to protect the heritage and mission of church buildings across Scotland. Some of these organisations offer important funding opportunities, whilst others offer advice and support in enabling church buildings to be maintained, developed or used by the wider community.
Important funding bodies exhibiting included Historic Environment Scotland, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Benefact Trust, Scotland’s Churches Trust and Seeds for Growth. Other organisations represented on the day included Eco-congregation Scotland, Historic Churches Scotland, Climate Café, the Scottish Community Tourism Network, the Church of Scotland and of course, the Scottish Episcopal Church. It was great to see congregation members from charges across the province there on the day, as well as attendees from various church denominations.
Dr Susan O’Connor, Head of Grants at Historic Environment Scotland, reminded us that their express grants (up to £25,000) can be applied for on a rolling basis – there are no set application deadlines. Caroline Clarke, Director for Scotland from the National Lottery Heritage Fund used St Mark’s Portobello as a case study. St Mark’s recently received £134,000 from the Heritage Fund towards their renovation plan, and Caroline said, ‘that’s the kind of project we want to fund more of in the future’. Andrew Bass of the Benefact Trust encouraged applications focused on building improvement and maintenance, stressing that virtually every application results in a funding award.
Claire Walker, Chief Executive of the National Churches Trust reminded us of the need to ask for money, and then thank anyone who has donated. It seems obvious but is so important. Stephen Curran encouraged us that one in five Scottish churches (across denominations) are now registered eco-congregations. The charity has seen an increase of 14% in engagement over the past three years, demonstrating the building of a movement across Scottish churches.
I left Paisley Abbey aware that we have many reasons to feel hopeful: Hopeful that funders are keen to fund churches; hopeful that heritage organisations support our church buildings becoming sustainable for the future; hopeful that there is an ever-growing movement of creation care across Scotland.
An article about the event from The Herald can be read here.
Bethany Nelson, Empowerment Coordinator
