A very big thank you to all who came to help with and donate to the Fairtrade Coffee Morning in St Mary’s Church on Saturday 9 March. Also thank you to our shops and businesses in Beaminster for their generosity in giving raffle prizes and vouchers. The addition of an accessories and book stall added variety and colour. Donations, raffle and stalls made over £880. After accounting for the Fairly Traded Goods (already bought) and Waste Not Want Not (sale or return) we have been able to send £600 to the Fairtrade Foundation.
In February it was very encouraging to see bees busy on the wild plum tree and early flowering shrubs in the churchyard. A recent Church of England decision to promote biodiversity on its land is very encouraging. This aims to give biodiversity “equal consideration with net zero carbon” as an urgent response to the “ecological crisis”.
We will see how we can encourage more biodiversity in the Churchyard here this year. Some members of Netherbury4Nature came to St Mary’s recently to share our mutual concerns about the decline of flora and fauna and how to reverse this trend. Shared knowledge and ideas are very helpful. We wandered round our Churchyard and explained how we try manage it for nature.
Gill Perrott