Environmental focus

Our response to the global heating crisis and the damage being done to the environment

In all that we do, we aim to use as little energy as possible, creating as little waste as possible. We aim to leave the world a better place for everyone’s children and grandchildren.

  • We are committed to recycling and avoiding the use of single-use plastic.
  • Wesleys Café uses foodstuffs which are coming to the end of their sell by dates that are donated by Baildon Co-op. This avoids these limited-life products from going to landfill.
  • We use environmentally-friendly cleaning products.
  • We have a team of volunteer gardeners who keep our grounds well-tended and cared for.
  • In our main building we have renewed all windows and removed gas as a form of heating. We have refurbished all our meeting rooms; installed new toilet facilities;  and created "The Den“ (a new, highly insulated ’snug’ room.
  • Following a 10 year fund-raising effort, we were able to open our new building “The Fold” (adjacent to our main building) in Autumn 2019. The Fold has features similar to those of a “PassivHaus” (German highest efficiency grading) and follows a rigorous standard for energy efficiency in a building. It uses significantly less energy and will be carbon-negative over its lifetime. It does this with features including very thick walls; a huge amount of insulation; triple glazing; very high standards of air-tightness;  and 8kW of solar panels on its roof. The Fold, which replaced a single storey 1950s Marley Hut building, offer good sized, two storey facility that enables further growth of our community.
  • In 2023 we replaced major parts of the Church Sanctuary roof, adding additional insulatation. The Church and the Hall (Epworth) have been fitted with flush photovoltaic (PV) panels that make up the roof itself.  We now have 51.2 KW of PV power.
  • We regularly display information on our noticeboards about the environment and how we can respond.
  • We support the work of Baildon and Shipley Friends of the Earth in campaigning on environmental issues.
  • We are currently working towards recognition as an A Rocha Gold Eco-Congregation.