St Margaret’s Church achieved their silver award in September 2022. Read more about their Eco Church journey here.
“This will be the second year we have held a ‘Green’ Christmas Market. Last year it was hugely successful and raised a lot of interest, money and support from other organisations in our village.
The principles of the event are:
- To bring Christmas joy to our community through the market
- To spread a green message into the heart of the Christmas season
We manage this by all our stalls having an eco-ethos and being as plastic free as possible.” The main stalls are as follows:
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Homemade edibles – delicious cakes, jams, chutneys
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Natural decor – wreaths, poinsettias, potted bulbs, and pinecones
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Re-gifting – anything nearly new or in good condition which would make a good present (no electrics or clothing)
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Handmade – crafts, knitting, willow weaving, woodwork, artwork
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Re-homing good quality toys (with kite mark) and children’s books
This year we have invited OXFAM to have a free stall, and our local Citizens Advice Bureau will have a table and be available to talk through how to keep warm this winter with anyone who wishes to receive advice.
We have a real tree decorated with natural decorations, which is then enjoyed by other organisations using the hall and finally goes to the church for the rest of the Christmas season. It lasted really well last year because the church is so cold!
The ambience is helped along by serving traditional mulled wine and mince pies, and our local musicians play Christmassy toe-tapping medleys.
Many churches have a Christmas market, and it isn’t really so very difficult to have a gentle transition to being totally plastic-free and following ‘green’ principles. The key is to tell people what you are doing and why. They will come out of curiosity and go away feeling very virtuous about their purchases!
Written by Angie Jenkins, Eco-Church lead at St Margaret’s Church, Horsmonden, Kent