Members of BACA – Birmingham Anglican Climate Action – want to celebrate the ministry of Beryl Moppett their convenor who has just died. It was latterly focussed on the fifth mark of mission: to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth

As a Reader she had leadership in her local church. But we came to know her through environmental campaigning. She was a founder member of BACA in 2014. By then she had been involved in environmental issues for some time. She was a director of the Power for Good Co-operative, a small organisation which aimed to put solar panels on faith buildings; as a Reader and Chaplain she was a major influence in the annual Solihull Green Fair. In 2017 she was awarded an MBE for work in the community.

By 2014 momentum for disinvestment from fossil fuels was building nationally. Deeply concerned about the issue, Beryl helped to found BACA to – successfully – campaign on this as well as the broader environmental agenda.

When Bishop David enrolled Birmingham as an Eco Diocese it was Beryl who was asked to lead the implementation of the Eco Church initiative, working closely with Patrick Gerard, the Bishop’s Advisor on Environment. As a result, Birmingham was the third diocese to gain a bronze award.

Under Beryl’s leadership BACA has focused on the campaign for local and national church disinvestment from fossil fuels, running climate and environment training sessions on Zoom, and offering direct support to parishes and individuals where we could. In all of this Beryl was a faithful, hard-working leader who enabled the energy and ideas of everyone to flourish.

One of Beryl’s outstanding qualities as a leader was her natural ability to encourage and include others. She was quick to spread the message, to welcome and encourage newcomers, to include the widest possible range of ideas. The breadth and depth of her contacts was impressive.

And yet, maybe a bit unusual in a leader, she did not try to conceal her own vulnerability. She could get downhearted sometimes, and certainly frustrated by how slowly results were in coming. But, as one member remembers, ‘She never let that stop her from pressing on, organising another meeting, or contacting someone who might be helpful.’

Beryl did these things not because she was told to by church leaders – indeed it was sometimes her telling them! – but out of her own Christian faith and conscience. She was one of many lay people today in whom the Holy Spirit is at work.

John Nightingale 3rd September 2022