In February 2011 the first patrol of Cirencester Street Pastors went out on the streets of central Cirencester. Patrols continued every Saturday night/Sunday morning as a very visible and successful initiative supported by the churches in Cirencester.
Everything stopped because of the Lockdown restrictions during which time a number of Street Pastors resigned and others remain unavailable due to health reasons. As a result there are only 11 Street Pastors available for duty, which means a team of four can only be sent out twice a month, to avoid individuals patrolling more than once a month.
Trial patrols over the last two weekends of August convinced the trustees that there is still a need for Street Pastors in Cirencester and there is therefore an obvious need to recruit new Street Pastors.
It is hoped to soon arrange another special Churches Together service, with an invitation to Les Isaac, the founder of Street Pastors and current CEO of Ascension Trust, to return and speak again, with a view to recruiting members of our congregations to volunteer to train as Street Pastors. This will probably be in mid-2022 at the earliest, but in the meantime we need to shout out for recruits right now.
If you would like to volunteer or find out more about what is involved, please speak to Peter Ewart on 07748 760519 or email him at peter@ewart.uk.com.