On 17th April 2021, a drowning of the Twyford water meadows took place. This was witnessed by a good crowd including a celebrity, Chris Packham. Chris was with a BBC film crew making a film of a walk along the Itchen from Bishopstoke to Winchester. These are a few photos from that afternoon.

Click on the small images to see a larger version of the photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you seen the snowdrops appearing all over St Mary’s churchyard?  Since 2000, we’ve  celebrated Snowdrop Saturday, with local people digging in snowdrops they’ve brought from their gardens. Over the years this has become a popular part of our village and social calendar.

As a Fairtrade church we’ve always planned the date to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight – to highlight the often underpaid and exploited workers who grow so much of our food, and the cotton for our clothes.

This year Fairtrade Fortnight is from February 22nd to March 7th. It’ll feel very different! 2020 has been such a hard year, and our active campaigning and meeting together will continue to be challenging. So though we can’t have our usual Snowdrop Saturday, we want to keep up the tradition of planting snowdrops and focussing on Fairtrade.

How about instead of the one Saturday, if you have snowdrops from your garden to divide and dig in, might you find any time between Feb 22nd and March 7th to suit you, and plant them where you see a space in the churchyard? You’ll need to be socially-distanced, but they needn’t!

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us more than ever how interconnected we are globally. Such interconnection is at the very heart of the Fairtrade message. Let’s drive long-term change not only with our shopping choices but with our support – and help keep Twyford churchyard a living reminder?

Celia Close (Traidcraft rep for St Mary’s)

Maggie Lippiett

Cathy Pope

Eco church is an award scheme designed to motivate and resource churches in the UK to care for the planet as part of their everyday work and witness.  Recognising that we were now in a climate crisis, we as a church community were determined to do something about it.  By registering as an Eco church, our task was to work through a survey of questions relating to five categories – namely, worship and teaching, management of land, management of buildings, global and community engagement and lifestyle. Depending on the quality of answers, we were awarded points which after a year added up to a bronze award.  The journey towards this award involved the participation of the vicar who appointed an eco champion, the Parochial Church Council, the churchwarden and members of our Twyford community with expertise in different fields.  A team effort with thanks due to all  – but this is just the beginning as we head towards a silver award.

Green Action Week starts on Sunday 20th September.

Several events associated with understanding the scale of the problem and creating a low carbon culture. These will help you gain an awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities and the create the motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis.

Visit the WinACC website for more information

Green Week 2020: Events