The Net Zero Team held their next Diocesan Net Zero Roadshow event in Dundee at St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday 23 August. It was fantastic to have nearly all the charges across the Brechin Diocese represented on the day, with around 50 people in attendance.
We were delighted to welcome Cllr Anouk Kloppert, Kate Munro from the Angus Climate Hub, Lucy Stewart from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Richard Murray Chair of Eco-Congregation Scotland and a representative from Business Energy Scotland.
After welcomes and introductions to our contributors, led by Bethany Nelson and Iain Johnstone from the Net Zero Team, Bishop Andrew kindly offered warm words of welcome and affirmation of our Net Zero ambitions. He also opened and closed the day with prayer and blessing.
The morning workshops on offer were led by Lucy le Roux from Christian Aid, on their Restore Campaign, and by Neil Rawlins from the Net Zero Team, on Building Solutions. The Building Solutions workshop was led in conjunction with two manufacturers of radiant heating – Craig Herriott from Flexel and Adam Broadbent from Herschel – and Grant McCowan from RTRFIT, a locally based heritage building retrofitter.
After the workshops we came together again to hear from the Pioneer and Pilot church that received money from the Benefact Trust through the strategic funding partnership with the province.
St Ninian’s and St Ternan’s are the Diocesan Pioneer and Pilot charges, respectively. Dean Kenneth Gibson from St Ninian’s, Dundee spoke about their recently completed building project, which saw them installing solar panels, batteries, radiant heaters and other energy efficiency measures.
Mike Jepp from St Ternan’s, Muchalls spoke about scoping works to remove their pellet bio-mass boiler and decouple the paired heating source currently operating in both the rectory and church-building. Both these projects were supported by initial findings provided by free energy audits from Business Energy Scotland.
We were also delighted to have contributions to this session from Felicity Wright, leader of the eco-group at St Paul’s Cathedral. These case studies started off our Sharing Stories session and were followed by group discussions, allowing everyone to talk about their own local church context.
Serendipides Catering, a local social enterprise, provided an incredible spread of plant-based soups, bread, savoury pastries and cakes. A huge thanks to their team for our delicious lunch.
After lunch we had our afternoon workshop session, which included a workshop given by Jean Carletta, director of HeatHack, and a workshop given by Anne-Marie O’Hara from the National Churches Trust. Both these workshops provided lots of information and ideas on how to plan and fund church building projects.
We would like to thank all our contributors and all the staff and volunteers at the cathedral, in particular Roxanne Campbell, Provost of St Paul’s Cathedral, and Felicity Wright, leader of the eco group. Many thanks to all the volunteers from the cathedral who served tea and coffee and gave us such a warm welcome.
Reflections from event attendees
“I enjoyed the Workshop Day at St Pauls and the deliverance of information was first class and inspiring.”
“The day more than met my expectations and lunch was excellent – very tasty.”
“I have to say that I remain very impressed with the presentations and the amount of information I came away with.”
“So good to be able to speak directly with all the experts.”
“The event more than met my expectations – I almost couldn’t keep up with writing my notes.”
“I intend to write a report for my vestry and encourage positive thought.”
“I will look at funding opportunities and would definitely attend similar events.”
Upcoming Roadshow Events
Please see below our upcoming dates for the remaining Roadshow events, and please help us by sharing these with anyone you know who might be interested in attending – all are welcome regardless of denomination or faith group.
Registration pages can be found on our Events page.
- 27th September: St Marys Pro-Cathedral Aberdeen
- 4th October: St Ninians Cathedral Perth
- 25th October: St Andrews Cathedral Inverness
- 15th November: Holy Trinity and St Barnabas Paisley
Bethany Nelson, Empowerment Coordinator
