BAILDON Methodist Church won an Eco-church Gold award becoming only the eighth Methodist church in England and Wales to achieve this status.

International Christian eco-charity A Rocha assessors came for a day to listen to what church eco-activists said and to see what had been done over the last 20 years.

They wrote “high congratulations to everyone involved with the Eco-church team on reaching this significant milestone”.

They took special note the 52 kilowatt solar arrays, batteries and sophisticated and sensitive Smart controls.

John Anderson, member of Baildon Methodist Church, said: “Baildon Methodist Church is one of the leading churches in the country of any denomination working successfully to reduce global heating.”

He said on one full working day in May the electricity bill was for zero pounds.

Mr Anderson said: “It’s so successful that since Covid the church has not had to significantly raise its booking charges and has kept stable the cost of the daily popular meals in its Wesleys café.”

One garden area had developed from an “abandoned clinker-filled strip of land into the bio-diverse and productive area it is today”. The church also has 87 species of plant in its gardens has a collection of 20 rare heritage fruit trees.