2009 Award Winner
 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
WINNER: Team Leader Mark Thomas, Programme Leader, Bridgend Street Pastors |
 |
|
| Bridgend Street Pastors is an inter-denominational Church programme set up in response to urban problems. It engages with people on the streets to care, listen and talk Mark is the pastor at Hope Baptist Church in the centre of Bridgend. He has brought together churches and other agencies in the town to form the Street Pastors scheme, making the town a safer place. The Bridgend Street Pastors scheme was established in Bridgend in response to the issues experienced in the town’s centre on Friday and Saturday nights. Mark recognised that a concerted effort was needed to make the town centre safer, and decided to run a Street Pastor scheme similar to that operated by the Ascension Trust in London. The Trust advised that he would need the support of more than one church for the scheme to go ahead, so Mark personally approached each church in the area, the police and local authority to back the scheme and get it off the ground. Mark oversaw the training of the programme’s first 20 volunteers, who took to the streets in July 2007. The Street Pastors now work every Friday and Saturday night and run a triage centre with the police and St John’s Cymru on certain nights of the year. A further four training programmes have since been held and there are now 50 volunteers from 17 churches. Mark has used his networks and standing in the community to bring 17 churches of different traditions together and support the scheme. In addition he has gained the trust of the police at a senior as well as beat level. Without Mark's vision and tireless efforts and commitment the Street Pastors scheme would not have got started in Bridgend. |
|||