Many of us find that being outdoors in God’s creation provides a ‘portal’ into His Presence. He is not limited to meeting us indoors! We have a Woodland Walk with regular prayer trails, an orchard for contemplative prayer, an outdoor classroom, a wildflower meadow, and a bench specifically for praying. We hope that our garden provides a ‘thin place’ where people can meet with God.

St Mark’s runs a clothes bank, set up in 2016 by then church member, Michelle Hayes; this is much used by local people on low income (of whom there are sadly many, even in leafy Harrogate) and particularly by refugees.

We installed solar panels in 2012, here shown being blessed by Rt Rev. James Bell, previous Bishop of Ripon, alongside Andrew Jones MP. The solar panels generate approximately 6,300 kWh per year and for the rest of our energy we have been using Green Journey (renewable energy) since 2017. We are currently working on replacing our gas boiler with more solar panels and Air Source or Ground Source heat pumps.

We have provision for 32 bikes, having doubled our number of cycle racks this year using a council grant. We encourage active travel in its various forms.

St Mark’s was filmed in June 2022 by the Church of England, in order to be used along with other case studies for inspiring leaders at the July 2022 General Synod, and for use as a resource on the Church of England’s Environment pages.