£3000 donation made to Street Pastors

A local group of volunteers called ‘Street Pastors of Rochester’, that provides valuable assistance to people in the High Street area of Rochester on Friday nights has been awarded a grant of £3000 by mhs community charity.

Street Pastors are a supporting safety net for the night time economy, where revelry and party hypes often lead to high octane emotional states, when unexpected, unprovoked and unsafe actions place people at risk. Street Pastors intervene as appropriate, calming situations, offering comfort, searching for solutions and keeping a watchful eye on the environment; removing bottles or other discarded rubbish; which could become an offensive weapon.

The Medway Street pastors are all members of local churches, the help they offer is available to anyone regardless of faith, gender, race or age. Their work on a Friday night is valued by the Police and the businesses in Rochester High Street.

Working alongside SOS, the police, door managers and licensed premises, the team is linked through a radio network providing instant and immediate knowledge about problems occurring along the street. It was an effective mechanism of communication and since the inception of the Street Pastors in Rochester in 2009; they have been accepted on the streets as a positive influence to resolving emotive issues.

Reverand Richard Alford, Founder of the Street Pastors of Rochester said, “The money will help us to continue with our supportive work in the community by recruiting and training more volunteers to carry out street work. The Street Pastors patrol Rochester to provide help and additional safety on the street. Each person in the team gives up hours of their own time to work on a shift basis, sometimes until four o clock in the morning. They walk the High Street, check the river, look into dark alleyways and make convivial conversation with workers and socialisers to offer valuable support to help influence the declining figures of disturbance and arrest.

(January 2012)