The Joy of ‘Looking After a Piece of God’s Acre’ Wins Cynon Valley Church Green Flag Award Second Year Running

The Parish Church of Saint Winifred, Penrhiwceiber has been presented the Green Flag Community Award for the second year in a row.

Over the last two years, up to ten people have been involved in the upkeep of the green space around the church. Approximately 100 bags of vegetation were taken away once Covid regulations allowed more than one person to meet.

Rev’d Stuart Ghezzi said, “There was a huge amount of work of cutting back what was there into something more manageable which makes better use of the plants.

“It's very much appreciated by the community because it does look so well kept. Everybody that I speak to always says how lovely the grounds are looking and how well kept and how hard everybody's working to get it that way.”

The parish of Penrhiwceiber is nestled in the Cynon Valley and does not have an abundance of green space. As the church is very much a part of the community, they wanted to provide for their neighbours and so applied for the Keep Wales Tidy start-up grant.

“As regulations allowed, somebody would go and sweep the path, and then that led to sweeping the path and trimming a shrub. And then it sort of grew out of that.”

Although it was not a considered effort to aim for the Green Flag Award, it was always the intention that the processes of improving the garden would be without impact on biodiversity.

“They didn't want to do anything that would harm insects and creatures, etc. Which of course, then open the door to be able to apply for the Green Flag,” said Fr Stuart.

“We have got a couple of flower and shrub beds, as you go up the path to the church. There is also a wildflower area, which is left to do what it wants with a bit of care and management - otherwise it just looks untidy.”

The ‘wilding’ or ‘rewilding’ of churchyards is something that is encouraged by the national charity ‘Caring for God’s Green Acre’. The organisation says, “Welsh churchyards, chapel yards and cemeteries are fantastic places for biodiversity, and we are just discovering how interesting they are.” Projects from the charity include ‘Welsh Burial Grounds for Wildlife’ funded by The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund.

The Church in Wales says, “It is thought church land, often uniquely unploughed and undeveloped, could be a habitat for precious and endangered plants and other wildlife.”

Before Easter 2022, children’s events were held in the church grounds in which some of the children went out and planted seeds and bulbs. Seeing those seeds grow on from Easter, Fr Stuart said, was all part of the lesson and story of regrowth and resurrection.

Occasionally the church puts on a couple of hours of children's activities which are open to anybody to come along.

In addition, the church grounds now feature a statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in an area created as an outdoor shrine.

“As we as a church we are very much on the Catholic side of things, so we have a statue outside of ‘Our Lady’," said Fr Stuart.

"We don't have huge grounds, so it was making the most out of what we had to look the best it could.”

The congregation themselves have also met occasionally in small numbers outside to see the rosary together.

Fr Stuart has not long been in his post in the Cynon Valley South Ministry Area, but affectionately said, “I've seen the summer fruits of the labour of others as the flowers come in late spring and into the summer.”

He adds that the joy of the garden for him is “looking after our own little piece of God's acre.”