An Australian visitor called at the churchyard during the most recent tidy-up session at St Lucius' Church. Rob is from Brisbane and his UK walking tour brought him to Farnley Tyas.

He was able to admire the work done by, from left, Rachel, Cath, Lee and his son Cameron. As part of his Duke of Edinburgh award, Cameron has made boxes for the hedgehog hotels which tie-in neatly with our Eco-Church project.

​Also helping was Maureen Barraclough and Monica, who took the picture.

Our vision for an Eco Church in Farnley has taken another stride with news that St Lucius' has achieved a silver award.

The aim of Rocha’s Eco Church scheme is to celebrate the ways that church communities have been engaging with caring for the earth as a key part of our Christian faith.

Kathryn Hinchliff, our project lead said: "This is such an incredible achievement in less than a year and is testament to the vision and hard work of you all and our many supporters.

"A Rocha commended the Eco page on our web site, so they obviously check up on us – as well as accepting our self-assessment.

"This is a big milestone, so I have taken the liberty of purchasing a silver award plaque for the church as it may be a while before we can apply for ‘gold’ and it will, I believe, help us to keep going.  

"You are a fantastic team to work with, and I realise that some of the changes we have made, and will have to make in the future, have been and will be very challenging.

"But your willingness to accept change in order to make a big difference in reducing our carbon footprint and sustaining our bit of God’s creation has been  impressive and hopefully will have a positive impact across our village and the Parish.

"So it's onwards and upwards to the next level where some difficult decisions await us but I feel confident that we are up to the task. Once again thank you all so much."