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

Holy Trinity in Sibford, Oxfordshire, 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.

Three other churches near Sibford had already had the same system installed, so church treasurer David Gill and the team were able to sit on neighbouring pews and find out what the system felt like.

“The boiler was unreliable,” he said. “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.”

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, the largest - £19,284 – coming from the Church of England’s Net Zero Programme’s Boiler Replacement Hardship Grant Fund.

“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.”

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.

A longer version of this story can be found here