Churchyard Trail

At a time when climate change and biodiversity loss are shaping our world, the churchyard at St Laurence offers something precious: a place where wildlife flourishes, nature still finds sanctuary, and people can reconnect with creation. It is also a sacred space where generations are remembered and honoured.

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Since 2024, we have been developing a vision to create a Churchyard Trail—a way of celebrating this rich, living landscape while helping people of all ages to learn, reflect, and act as better stewards of God’s earth.

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A Vision in Progress

This project is being led by Roger Wardle, Chair of the St Laurence Eco Group, and is fully supported by the Churchyard Group and the PCC. Our aim is to make the trail not just informative and enjoyable, but transformative—an opportunity to see how churchyards can offer both resting places and habitats, and how people of faith can lead in ecological hope.

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The Churchyard Trail will be shaped around three distinct zones within the churchyard:

1. The Active Burial Area
   This section, where recent and future interments take place, will continue to be mown regularly from spring to autumn. It remains a place of dignity and care for families visiting loved ones' graves.

2. The Central Churchyard & Nature Trail Path
   This area, around the church buildings, will form the core of the nature trail.

   • Ancient gravestones will be kept clear where possible.

   • Designated plots will be sown with wildflowers to attract bees, butterflies, and birds.

   • An area beneath one of the yew trees will become a quiet study or reflection space, with existing benches and, we hope, more added in future.

   • Interpretation signs will help visitors learn about the wildlife, plants, and heritage of the space.

3. The Older Graveyard (Bear Hill Side)
   This area will no longer be regularly mown, except for occasional pathways to still-visited graves and to the ancient oak and several war memorial graves, which will also form part of the trail.

 

But We Need Your Help

This is an exciting and hopeful project—but it cannot happen without funding. Our current church finances do not allow us to support the Churchyard Trail through regular income. To make this vision a reality, we are depending on:

• Grants

• Targeted donations

• Practical volunteer support

 

If you would like to make a donation specifically to the Churchyard Trail, you can do so by contact Michelle - treasurer@thearkalvechurch.co.uk

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Join the Team

We are also looking for volunteers to help in two key areas:

• Ongoing maintenance, including hedges, paths, and wildlife-friendly care

• Development of the trail, from signage and research to planting and community engagement

If you'd like to get involved, please contact Charlotte in the church office:

admin@thearkalvechurch.co.uk

0121 447 7955

 

For Schools, Visitors, and the Village

We hope the Churchyard Trail will become a learning space for local schoolchildren, as well as a point of interest for the wider community and visitors to Alvechurch. But more than that, we hope it will be a place of connection—to the land, to memory, and to the God who delights in every living thing.