The PEACH project was built around a number of activities that involved the local community. These were:
Building a library of heritage data
Starting from a base of standard paper leaflets describing the church, and a very comprehensive history of St Michael’s written for the Millennium, the Project Team has built a website that incorporates this information, and much more. The website has achieved its goal of providing a “one stop shop” for those who wish to learn about the heritage of St Michael’s church. QR codes have now been set up to encourage visitors to use the website when they come to the church.
Involving young people from Brent Knoll Primary School and the local Guide and Brownie Groups in St Michael’s Heritage
Our Guides and Brownies had sponsored one of the panels in the north aisle ceiling and were keen to take part in looking at the church and churchyard so that they could earn badges. Covid 19 frustrated this goal but we did manage to organise a number of session in the late summer and autumn of 2021 when they looked at a number of features of the church and went on trails around the churchyard.
Our school involvement was similarly affected by Covid. We also ran into difficulties with meshing our activities in with the National Curriculum. Finally in late summer and early autumn of 2022 a History Module was set up based on the heritage of the church and churchyard. The children were very enthusiastic and this turned out to be one of the highlights of the PEACH Project. The school has also visited the churchyard for a number of nature lessons.
Involving local people in arts and crafts
A number of local craft groups prepared material for an Arts and Crafts Festival that was held between April 29th and May 1st 2022
- The Parish Banner group made a new banner based on an image of St Michael
- The local Quilting Group produced a very decorative quilt built around images from the north aisle ceiling
- A local ceramicist, Anita Peach, ran a series of workshops in which the participants carved and fired an impressive range of images of Green Men
- Our project artist, Judith Champion, led two workshops to produce art for the Festival. One was with adults and the other was with a class from Brent Knoll Primary School. She produced a booklet illustrating a time line of the history of St Michael’s which sold a number of copies at the Festival.
- A local craftsman carved a series of images of the north aisle ceiling using advanced laser techniques
- Reclaimed wood from work on the north aisle roof was used to create a bench and a series of art works
- The Church flower arrangers decorated the porch and the church at the festival with displays built around the natural world
- The Brent Knoll WI Craft Group made craft material built around images in the church
Involving the local community in the natural world of our churchyard
The PEACH project team were scheduled to mount an Open Churchyard event in May 2021 involving a number of Somerset natural history experts, but this was cancelled as a result of Covid 19. In its place a number of the experts contributed to survey work around the churchyard over a period of a couple of years. During the project:
- A team of expert lichenologists undertook a survey of the lichens on gravestones and the church and David Hill their leader produced a lichen trail.
- A retired engineer constructed a moth trap out of recycled plastic, electronic components and multiple LED light. This was used to survey moths in the churchyard on a number of occasions
- A local expert on spiders, Francis Farr-Cox, advised us on methods of surveying spiders and led a group of WATCH children on a spider hunt in October 2022
- A series of bat walks were run by the Somerset Bat Group in September 2021 for local people and the Guides
The Parish supported us to join the Wilder Churches initiative set up by the Somerset Wildlife Trust and the Diocese of Bath and Wells. As a result of this initiative we were stimulated to set up our own tree and flower trails around the churchyard
Promoting Bell Ringing
In September 2022 we joined forces with our local bell ringing team and organised a an Open Day during which 40 people climbed up into the bellringing chamber and were instructed on the art of bell ringing.