‘It was manna from heaven’ – rural church switches to carbon-friendly heating thanks to grant funding

Holy Trinity, a rural church in the village of Sibford, started out simply considering installing a toilet and level access to the Grade II Listed church. But it soon started to think about how its heating could become more efficient too.

The thought swiftly led to an energy audit that recommended the installation of 121 under-pew heaters.

“The boiler was unreliable,” said church treasurer, David Gill. “Sometimes we’d come to church, and it would have broken down. It also cost us about £2,000 a year in oil.

“But the driver was a higher-level view in the community that we wanted to protect and cherish God’s creation, and we couldn’t do that by continuing to use an oil-based boiler.

“We are a farming community and people regard the countryside and their surroundings as something that’s God-given. So, continuing to go to church and burn oil was not consistent with that.”

How the project was funded

David and the Sibford team were determined to see the change brought about and needed to find ways of funding the £39,000 bill. So, they applied for grants and received four from different sources: Oxford Historic Churches Trust, The Benefact Trust and the Diocese of Oxford.

They also received £19,284 from the Boiler Replacement Hardship Grant Fund, made available through the Church of England’s national Net Zero Programme.

“It was manna from heaven,” said David. “It made the difference between doing it and not doing it.

“We would not have been deflected from our determination to do it, if we hadn’t received a grant, but now we are about to turn the new system on.

“People are put off from coming to church in the winter if they are not sure if it is going to be warm,” he said. “I don’t blame them. Why sit in a cold church? We wanted to make sure that everyone was always warm in church.”

Three other churches near Sibford had already had the same system installed, so David and the team were able to sit on neighbouring pews and find out what the system felt like. “It’s like sitting in a car with the heating on,” he said.

“It is economically justifiable, but it is spiritually justifiable too”

Having received the grants around Christmas time, the Sibford team was able to move swiftly, seeing the pew heaters installed in just three days. Ash Wednesday was the first time the new system was tried out, and David reports the new radiators ‘worked perfectly’ for the occasion.

The move is set to make the church building net zero carbon and reduce its heating costs.

“It is economically justifiable, but it is spiritually justifiable too and that’s the starting point for this,” said David.

The Boiler Replacement Hardship Grant Fund aims to support churches, or church halls, with limited budgets with funding to help meet the cost of replacing a failed gas or oil-fired boiler with an alternative low carbon alternative, ensuring that everyone is kept warm.

Grants of up to £45,000 are available to cover the difference in cost between a low carbon heating solution, compared with replacing a failed or failing oil/gas system. Churches are advised to contact their local diocese to find out more about how the scheme could benefit your church.

Shannon Carr-Shand, the Church of England’s Net Zero Programme Manager, said: “We recognise churches with old or failing gas/oil boilers face challenges with the cost of replacing them with a low carbon alternative, that’s why we have recently launched the Boiler Replacement Hardship Fund. We are thrilled that this will help these churches/church halls from being locked into a fossil fuel heating system beyond 2030.”

The Boiler Replacement Hardship Fund is part of the Church of England’s wider Net Zero 2030 Programme, which is responding to the Church’s ambition to be Net Zero by 2030 by helping to equip, resource and support all parts of the church to tackle climate change through reducing carbon emissions from the energy used in its buildings, schools and work-related transport.