Jim Truscott and the Revd Daniel Smith collecting the award from the Bishop of Ely, the Rt Revd Dr Anthony Russell

National award won by group at St Peter’s Bexhill

The St Peter’s Bexhill group the hill has won one of the Church Times national Green Church awards. It won the category of Celebrating Creation for its innovative and imaginative worship events, and is a recognition of their work in raising awareness of environmental issues from a Christian perspective.

The award ceremony took place at St Mary-le-Bow church, Cheapside, in the City of London. The group have won £500 which they will use for future events. The hill was nominated for its innovative and engaging services, which have confronted the issues facing God’s creation using art installations, music and reflection.

Previous events, boldly titled “rubbish” and “substance abuse” have dealt with our wasteful nature and the scarcity of the precious resource of water respectively.

Jim Truscott, one of the leaders of the hill said: “Being nominated for the Church Times Green Churches Award was really encouraging for us as we are a relatively new movement and reflects our desire to engage the wider community in facing these important and urgent issues.”

Jim and Felicity Truscott, Jason and Judy Newton and Zoe Smith, members of the core group who organise the hill are regular members of Time for God, St Peter’s regular Fresh Expression of Church which meets every Sunday morning in the Community Centre just across from the church building.

The hill was set up by members of St Peter’s in 2007 to explore alternative forms of worship, aiming to create different kinds of services that will stimulate the wider community to engage with the issues of relevance to our time.

The Green Church Awards were conceived by the Church Times working in conjunction with the leading agencies in the field of environmental action. The ceremony was sponsored by Christian Aid. Holy Trinity, Cleeve, was awarded first prize as Green Church of the Year for its range of environmental activities.

Pictured are Jim Truscott and the Revd Daniel Smith, collecting the award from the Bishop of Ely, the Rt Revd Dr Anthony Russell.