Parishioners at St Peter and St Paul Church in Pettistree, near Woodbridge, raise more than £23,000 for Church of England eco scheme

A community is celebrating after raising more than £23,000 to bring their church ‘into the 21st century’.

Parishioners at St Peter and St Paul Church in Pettistree, near Woodbridge, took part in the Church of England’s ‘Give to Go Green’ scheme.

This sees the national church match any £1 raised for eco projects, such as cutting carbon emissions.

With match funding included, the team raised £23,910 to revamp and upgrade its parish room.

Martin Corrall, churchwarden, said: “The idea is for it to become a useful community resource and bring it into the 21st century.

"It is sometimes easy to feel powerless in the face of climate change, but our church and its community enthusiastically embraced the recent opportunity of Give to Go Green and its matched funding.

“The objective, to reduce our carbon footprint and make the parish room a warmer, cheaper to heat space for the wider use of the community, was simple to understand and very well supported.”

The Give to Go Green scheme is entirely digital and run through the online giving platform ‘Give a Little’.

Mary Garner, who is part of the fund-raising committee, said: “The fundraising events have been really well supported.

“The idea is to make the most of the parish room for the whole community.”

The second phase of the Give to Go Green scheme is now taking applications.

Interested parishes can sign up here.

James Rolls, the net zero carbon officer at the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, said the church has pledged to be net zero by 2030.

He believed the scheme was a great way to move these plans forward.

Mr Rolls added: “Pettistree St Peter and St Paul have raised a fantastic amount of money to improve and reduce the carbon emissions of their church hall by taking part in Give to Go Green.

“They have really shown what is possible, and we would love more churches in the county to join up and ‘go green’ themselves.”