Gloucester Street Pastors will be celebrating their 5th birthday of service in March.
At the recent Evening Economy meeting, check ailment members of Safer Gloucester paid tribute to the amazing work that they do in the city.
Street Pastors is an initiative of the Ascension Trust who are a group of trained volunteers from local churches that care about their community. They patrol the streets of the city centre till 5am on the first and last Friday night each month and every Saturday night, medical helping to diffuse difficult situations, helping people get home safely, offering first aid where necessary and supporting vulnerable members of our community like the homeless with blankets and cups of coffee.
Sometimes Street Pastors hand out socks and gloves and hats to people on cold nights, flip flops to girls who can no longer manage to walk on their high heels and bottles of water to anyone who has drunk too much alcohol.
They complement the work of the police who can find themselves rushing from one job to the next. Street Pastors have the time to sit down and talk to people at length if needed.
Another helpful undertaking performed by Street Pastors is to collect any glass bottles or glasses dumped on our streets – on occasion removing as many as 55 glass objects in one night, all of which could be used as weapons if an altercation occurred.
Gloucestershire Constabulary’s Chief Inspector Neil Smith said, “We are extremely grateful to the Street Pastors who work unsocial hours on our city’s street, supporting vulnerable individuals and assisting them to get home safely. They support the work of police officers and are linked in to the radio system and the CCTV control room so that they can be directed to places where support is needed. They are the eyes and ears of our night time community.”
Deputy leader of Gloucester City Council, Jennie Dallimore said, “Street Pastors are indeed playing a huge role in ‘Making Gloucester Great’. I can honestly say that they play the role that many, including I, would not be the first to put themselves forward for, therefore in my eyes they are my heroes and Gloucester’s angels of the night.”
The Secretary of Gloucester’s Street Pastors, Robert Kingston, said “We are looking forward to celebrating 5 years of patrols this February. In that period we believe we have played a part in an improvement in the atmosphere and safety of the night time economy in the city, by caring listening and helping those we meet. Our volunteers are proud of the city they serve; Gloucester has a distinguished history and we hope to contribute to its future.
For further information on Street Pastors and the work they are doing (including further photos), contact Robert Kingston on rjkingston@tiscali.co.uk