Town Pastors, Harrogate

Town pastors: 'Safe people in Harrogate centre on Friday nights from 10pm to 3am'. All pastors wear orange fluorescent coats or waistcoats and are CRB registered.

July 2007 'Ripon City Pastors'
A meeting organised by the Salvation Army and Ripon Churches Together to hear of the work of Harrogate Town pastors from Police and Town Pastor representatives.

June 2007 (article produced by Harrogate Online)
At the end of the first six months of the Town Pastors, Harrogate, project we can report that it has been a great success. There are some 40 pastors, with more being introduced to the team every month. On any one Friday night there are 12 – 16 pastors out on the streets in small groups in their bright orange jackets, looking out for the vulnerable and aiming to keep Harrogate a safe place to be at night.
The police are pleased with the project, and a similar scheme is being considered in Ripon. Many of the Harrogate churches have been a great support, providing funds and manpower. This is an open community project – people who are not attached to any church are very welcome to join the team.
A catering vehicle is expected to arrive (thanks to the Salvation Army) in July, when water, tea, coffee and cake will be available to anyone who wants them. This is also expected to be a calming influence in the town.
As soon as there are enough volunteers, the pastors aim to be out on Saturdays as well, in response to many requests from the young people who feel safer when the orange jackets are around.
Not only that, but the Pastors plan to be at Birstwith Show and Ripley Show this year providing fun activities for families, - including the nightclubbers of the future! Look out for their stall offering nail-decorating, face-painting, hand massages, games, balloon modelling and a whole lot more. Or why not join the teams manning the stands if you have appropriate skills, or are willing to spend some time training? More: townpastors@harrogateonline.com

March 2007
The encouraging testimony of a police inspector describing how there was no trouble on his first night on the streets of his new appointment has spurred on the work of the Harrogate Town Pastors. The police inspector discovered that one of his colleagues, with a few others, had prayer walked the town the night before.
The Harrogate team are considering meeting on Thursday evenings around 7:30pm to break in to groups and prayer walk the town centre.

First reports to January 2007
Town Pastors have been out on the streets since 15 December, plus the 'quiet' trial run evening on 8 December. Up to the end of January 2007, they have recorded 454 volunteer hours (on Friday nights alone). There are 29 active pastors, with an additional five people who have passed through the introduction process.
Five supporters provide a prayer foundation and support on Friday evenings. Further volunteers continue to be sought to spread the load.
A early example happened during the early hours of 23 December; the Pastors heard a CCTV radio call from door staff requesting police or ambulance help because they had a lady who was sitting on their steps. She was inebriated and abusive. A team of pastors (two men and two women) visited the venue; the men engaged with the door staff and customers whilst the women spoke with the lady in question. Within about a minute the lady was on her feet and away from the venue. This simple act may well have avoided a member of the public taking matters into their own hands.
In the first six weeks operation, there were fifteen entries in the incident book, ranging from taking people back to their hotels to attending people with medical needs and calling on appropriate assistance from St John Ambulance. None of the pastors has had an accident, nor been threatened to date.

Impact
The response of the people of Harrogate has been beyond dreams. Many have approached the Pastors to enquire as to who they are and what they do. They have been greeted with respect and courtesy. A good number of young ladies have expressed reassurance knowing of our existence.
Because of what they do, some name calling is unsurprising. Conversations with people clearly raise their spirits, which can only be a good thing. As the Pastors approach people who are having a disagreement, the Pastors sometimes find that arguments stop as we draw nearer or that the parties engage with us and forget what they were disagreeing about. This is an area under review, perhaps developed, particularly with the clubs and pubs , with a view to reducing the number of incidents before they escalate to physical violence.

St John's Ambulance
The Pastors have a good working relationship with SJA. The Pastors are reassured and put at ease by the presence of the SJA and the ability to call on them. The Pastors are also able to assist them if they have been caring for someone who no longer requires their level of treatment but nonetheless is vulnerable and can benefit from assistance. SJA will require external funding in order to continue after the eight-week trial period. It has been discussed that a first aid trailer could be parked next to our catering vehicle.

Police
Again, the Pastors have a good working relationship with the police. Their support and encouragement has been immensely valuable in getting this project up and running. It is noticeable that there is less interaction with the police at a grass roots level now that we don't go to the team briefing at 10pm.

Pubs, clubs and door staff
There is some interaction with door staff. It is possible that the number of conversations with people will decrease both as time goes by and as the number of pastors grows. If the Pastors combine the good relationship which they have with many people together with the impact which our presence can have on reducing aggression or improving morale, then nightlife venues could benefit from the Pastors' presence, as is achieved in other towns. The venues in Harrogate could work with the Pastors in at least two possible ways:
* They could regard the pastors as just part of the general nightlife scene. In this way teams of pastors are able to talk with door staff, enter pubs and clubs with free will and engage with both staff and customers. This has the benefit as mentioned before.
* There is the added benefit that if venues sense rising tension then they can call in a team of pastors in the hope that their presence will result in a deflection or reduction of aggression. This will not prevent a full-blown fight, but may lessen the number of smaller skirmishes that can sometimes develop into something much greater.

HBC two way radios
The example above shows the benefit of the radio. There are many other conversations which the Pastors have heard and then attended events where tensions have died down. By having heard of an incident on the radio and then sending a team in, the Pastors are also able to act as a screen or deflection from fights or when people are ill. It is clear that we would greatly benefit from having sufficient radios for each team, particularly if the Pastors were to work effectively with the nightlife venues as referred to above.

AAC
With every new intake of cadets at the Apprentice College, it is understood that some door staff and particularly members of the public feel the need for support when the cadets arrive in the town centre at night. The Pastors hope that the cadets will welcome the Pastors as part of the system which exists for their benefit.

Base
The Pastors are of the unanimous opinion that they could not operate as comfortably or as happily as they do, without the use of church support and facilities across the town. The Town Pastors have use of a venue rent free where they meet up, pray, re-heat food, providing an opportunity for everybody to come together for about half an hour to socialise and discuss how the evening is going.

Finance
The Pastors have received initial funding support with individuals or companies sponsoring all the high visibility coats. Harrogate New Life Church is supporting the Town Pastors with £200 per month for the first year. At a combined service of the three churches on Victoria Avenue raised over £400 to support the Town Pastors. Part of the collection at the memorial service for Evelyn Dowbiggin (founder of Branchlines, now Wesley Owen) raised from over £200. The Pastors are very grateful for this support.

Catering vehicle
The Pastors would welcome a dual purpose of being our catering vehicle and an emergency response catering vehicle. Progress is being made with a representative of the social services section of the Yorkshire Division of the Salvation Army (TSA) for funding. At the moment, the proposal is that the Town Pastors have priority over the vehicle. If the vehicle is already in use by the emergency services, then harrogate Town Pastors would operate without it for the night.

Training
Various areas need addressing: hygiene training for those using the catering vehicle and conflict training, possibly to be arranged through the police.

Structure
Initial reaction to this project suggests that it should continue indefinitely. On this basis, it seems appropriate that there be an appropriate a structure. There are some churches and individuals who are hesitant to join until we have some formal structure in place.
Alan and Carole Cotterill, members of Harrogate Baptist Church have offered support: Alan is one of the volunteer pastors and Carole has offered to be the administrator.
Proper and effective running remains the key; the Town Pastors thoroughly enjoy their work together and the 'purpose of the project should never be lost for the sake of programme'.
In due course there may be a formal accountability structure; in the meantime, the Town pastors are accountable to Harrogate Police, Harrogate Borough Council and The Salvation Army, although in a relatively informal way.

Contact:
Email Jeremy Clough, or write: Town Pastors Harrogate, Reynard Crag, Reynard Crag Lane, High Birstwith, Harrogate HG3 2JQ tel: 779479 fax: 772862.

Links:
Other similar works across the UK: Town pastors, Ipswich, Halifax Street Angels, Street Pastors (Ascension Trust)

This webpage is provided by Churches Together in Harrogate. Loving God and Neighbour - together
www.ctharrogate.org.uk