{"id":1716,"date":"2025-02-17T07:30:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T07:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urc.org.uk\/?p=54308"},"modified":"2025-02-17T07:30:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T07:30:02","slug":"butterflies-and-bees-spreading-the-pollen-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/standrewsurcrustington.org.uk\/?p=1716","title":{"rendered":"Butterflies and Bees: spreading the pollen of peace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In Ilford\u2019s urban-dense, nature-depleted town centre, you\u2019ll find a group of people from the Vine Church Ilford, striving to spread the \u201cpollen of peace\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Led by a team including Ruth and Peter Musgrave and Sheila Baldwin, the group are in the midst of creating a \u201cpollinated pathway\u201d to encourage butterflies and bees to spread within the town centre and to come from other places.<\/p>\n

Peter, who has recently returned from a trip to Bangladesh, where he supports and draws nature inspiration from the Bangladeshi Taiz\u00e9 community, explains just how important butterflies and bees are in nature, and their correlation in spreading the Good News.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you see a butterfly, it brings joy,\u201d said Peter. \u201cOur work in the town centre follows on from our weekly gardening club, which restarts in March, where we work with our local Salvation Army<\/strong><\/a> on its Malachi Place project which supports homeless people, who come to help us tend to our gardens.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything needs some kind of pollination to spread. We have three very small gardens in Ilford town centre, and we work to highlight the value of butterflies and bees, and pollinated plants, which flower better. We\u2019re also growing vegetables for food and use organic seeds because modern seeds developed using pesticides won\u2019t attract butterflies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter went on to explain the importance of butterflies and bees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re essential to the eco system. They\u2019re essential in keeping our eco system alive. Their work supports other insects, which supports other birds, mammals and bats, which supports their food and shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe previous government allowed a pesticide<\/a><\/strong> to be used in Britain, after Brexit, that meant that millions of bees were killed. Now the current government is moving forward with a complete ban on bee-killing pesticides<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen pesticides are used, the pollination sequence is interrupted. In our gardens, we use organic seeds, which brings an oasis to the town. Seeds made using pesticides do not attract butterflies and bees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter likens the process of butterflies and bees to being Jesus to those in need in our communities. His passion for nature and the winged insects dates back to when he was a young student following reports on TV about the devasting Bhola cyclone which struck the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and India\u2019s West Bengal in 1970. As many as 500,000 people died. The following year came the Bangladesh genocide where up to 3 million Bengalis were killed.<\/p>\n

Peter wanted to do something to help. He turned to Tower Hamlets, which has the largest Bangladeshi community in England and Wales<\/strong><\/a>, where he worked for many years as a youth worker. Bangladesh is one of four regions supported by Commitment for Life, the URC\u2019s global justice programme<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1989, Peter, his wife Ruth and their three children got the chance to live and work in Bangladesh working with the Church of Bangladesh (COB\u2019s) Social Development Programme. Ruth worked in women\u2019s development, and they stayed until 1994.<\/p>\n

Between 2010-2014, Peter again worked in Bangladesh through the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), where he lived close to the Taiz\u00e9 community then in Mymensingh town.<\/p>\n

He has maintained a relationship with the COB and the MCC and with the Taiz\u00e9 Community in Bangladesh, which has moved to a rural area on COB land.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one of the places where the Taiz\u00e9 community farm, you can see outside that farming area rice growing where pesticides are used. The difference between that land and the Taiz\u00e9 farming area is stark,\u201d continues Peter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other parts, you\u2019ll see rows and rows of banana plants. The original flowers and plants that grew there have been eradicated along with the insects that pollinated them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is attractive about the Taiz\u00e9 community garden is that they have lovely vegetables and fruit plants, which demand your attention because they have lots of lovely butterflies and bees buzzing around.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019m like a butterfly popping from place to place, as is the Taiz\u00e9 community on that site. They\u2019ve planted themselves, rooted in the community and attract people and butterflies.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, a Muslim man named Hussain who lives in a slum area in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, has been known to the Taiz\u00e9 community for 40 years. He had polio as a child and they provided support and he travelled all the way by public transport, which was not easy, to spend Christmas with the Taiz\u00e9 community there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s attracted by what they do there and in turn the community respects him. He is a caring person and cares for people in his own area. He\u2019s like a butterfly. Filling up with the pollen from the Taiz\u00e9 community and then spreading that pollen in his community, like the hymn The Pollen of Peace<\/em> [by Northern Ireland songwriter Roger Courtney) says \u2018Christ has sown the seeds of love. Let us spread the pollen of peace throughout our land\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs butterflies and bees get food from the plants that they need, people are nourished by the Taiz\u00e9 community and spread that nourishment to others in need. That\u2019s what we try to do with our gardens in Ilford.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter encourages us all to play our part in creating a pollen of peace in our communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cChurches can be come Eco Churches, Synods can become Eco Synods, and regardless of whether you have a garden or a patio, you can grow pollinator-friendly flowers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Vine Church Ilford\u2019s eco work was recognised by the London Faith and Belief Forum and the church received a Sustainability Award from them. Vine Church Ilford members, Sheila and Peter, pictured, went to Westminster Abbey in November to receive the award, which included \u00a3500 to put  towards the cost of the energy saving work.<\/p>\n

Learn how your church can become an Eco Church<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Learn how your synod can become an Eco Synod<\/strong><\/a>. \u2013 all our synods are Eco Synods already: five already have a Bronze award.<\/p>\n

Learn about pollinator-friendly flowers<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Discover more URC resources on caring for creation<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Images: Peter and Shiela\/The Vine Church Ilford. All others, \u00a9<\/b>Peter Musgrave.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Ilford\u2019s urban-dense, nature-depleted town centre, you\u2019ll find a group of people from the Vine Church Ilford, striving to spread the \u201cpollen of peace\u201d. Led by a team including Ruth and Peter Musgrave and Sheila Baldwin, the group are in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-1716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-urc-news","tag-urc"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t