Busy as bees in Brigg garden

Brigg Methodist Church was proud and pleased to have been invited to take part in the West Lindsey Churches Festival in May 2025. This was the first time we had done this, and it was the first time that churches just outside the boundary of West Lindsey had been invited.

Our focus was in showing people how we had been awarded a Silver Plaque from A Rocha Eco Church in September 2022 and the on-going work being done to up-grade that award to a Gold Plaque.

We were able to show the 35 or so visitors who came through our doors that weekend just how much work was involved in gaining the silver award. We served Fairtrade refreshments to our guests and took them on a tour of our building, showing them photos and press cuttings of the 4 former Methodist churches in Brigg that were demolished or sold in the 1960s, in order to make way for a modern building which is double-glazed, fully insulated and with roof solar panels. A very adaptable building for both church and community use.

We then showed visitors our garden-the front garden lawned, with flower beds and a memorial rose garden. The side area is a useful car park, with a beautiful wildflower garden attracting bees and butterflies.

But the on-going work is to be seen at the rear. Once just a grassed area, hidden away. Now being transformed into Eco/Community Garden. Made possible by grants awarded to us by the Asda Foundation, Ongo and North Lincolnshire Council, the area is being developed, with raised beds, and subject to funding the placement of elements of a sensory garden which you will be able to walk around on a wheelchair-friendly footpath. A generous donation of a wooden bench by the family of a former church member, means, that along with other seating, you can relax and enjoy the garden. Bird tables and boxes, bee hotels with compost bins and rainwater butts will be installed. We are hoping to get permission from our church council to replace the window in our prayer room with a patio door, giving direct access to a patio at the heart of the garden.

We plan to have community meals, weather permitting, in the new garden and solar lights at Christmas, together with a Christmas Tree, and at Easter, an Easter Garden, complete with empty tomb.

None of this has been possible without the hard work by volunteers from clubs within the church, led by our own youth worker, Grace, and members of the local community.

But, as the photo shows, there has to be a coffee break. Made with Fairtrade coffee, of course!