Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness – thus begins John Keats’ poem To Autumn. I love this season, with the changing colours of the leaves, the cooler days, and the anticipation of harvest before nature dies into winter. It also heralds for me (an ex-teacher) fresh starts: exercise books with clean pages, yet to be scarred by scribbled out mistakes and red pen; a chance to do things differently; discovering and encouraging the potential in children.

Towards the end of September we have Harvest Festival – coming together to give thanks for the fruits of creation. Maybe it’s also a chance to consider a fresh start in our approach to the environment, caring for it, rather than exploiting it.

The parish Sustainability Group continues to challenge us as individuals and as a church community to consider how we can contribute towards the sustainability of our world in our everyday actions. A fresh start in our approach towards eating, tweaks in our energy consumption and considering environmentally friendly cleaning products, all contribute towards making life on planet earth more sustainable.

Please join us on 24th September for our Sustainability Fair to find practical approaches for fresh starts in our approach towards creation. Genesis 1 tells us, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... and God saw that it was good.’ Let’s play our part in keeping it that way.

Mary Hawes