Pastors help clean up the streets

The Newbury Street Pastors was established in 2012 by a partnership between nine Newbury churches, with the aims of making the church more relevant in society and helping to prevent town centre problems.
Volunteers head out in groups of four in their distinctive blue uniforms on Saturday nights, from 10pm to 4am, helping people find cabs or defusing potentially violent situations.
They also communicate with the police via the pub watch radio scheme. At a Newbury and Thatcham Neighbourhood Watch meeting on Monday, town centre officer Sgt Andy Bone described the group’s work as invaluable and said that he had no doubt the fall in town centre incidents was largely down to their work.
He added: “We get paid for the work we do, these people don’t. They are out there in all weathers and what they do is incredible. They offer a service and give time with people that we simply can’t.Without their help, our job would be a lot harder.”
During the meeting, Deborah Arden-Hunt, of Newbury Street Pastors, described how they had supported 226 “vulnerable” people and defused 86 potentially violent situations in the past year.
She added that they had helped 1,567 18-to- 25 year olds and 776 people aged 25 and over, and spoken to a total of 85 under-13s and 151 under-17s.
The Newbury Street Pastors have also handed out 4,317 lollipops and 349 pairs of flip-flops to people in the town who needed more comfortable shoes to get them home.
Police statistics for 2013 reveal that the incidence of weekend violent crime in Newbury town centre has dropped by 13.4 per cent.
Newbury Street Pastors is comprised of local Christians from different denominations in the town.
Anyone who is interested in becoming a trained street pastor or would like further information can email co-ordinator Deborah Arden-Hunt newbury@streetpastors.org.uk