Monthly Meetings

We meet at 2 pm on the fourth Tuesday of the month at the Congregational Church, Kilwardby St, Ashby.
There is normally a guest speaker or, in December, musical entertainment.
This is followed by tea, coffee and biscuits and a chance to meet and talk with other members.

Tea Rota and Reporting Groups

23rd September - Chris Lewis - 'Ashby Street Pastors'

Chris Lewis gave an interesting and informative talk about the work of the Ashby Street Pastors.

The street pastors are trained volunteers who go out into Market St in Ashby principally on Friday and Saturday nights to care for, listen to and generally help people in the Ashby community. Chris explained how the police force, the local authority and the street pastors form a sort of urban trinity working together to help people enjoy themselves safely.

The Ashby Street Pastors are all volunteers drawn from several local churches and they have been providing this service in Ashby for upwards of 30 years. To illustrate the sort of help that they can provide, Chris gave us the example of a young man whom they met one cold January evening when the temperature was well below zero. He was homeless and in desperate need of help. The pastors were able to organise immediate accommodation for him in the Travelodge at Flagstaff Island by paying for the room and then recouping the money from donations generously given by the public.

This was just one example but on a typical night they might have to bring calm to aggressive situations or involve the police to attend incidents of anti social behaviour. They might need to provide flip flops to persons who have lost or discarded their shoes (often high heels) or just provide a listening ear to those who want or need to talk. They might need to help those who have perhaps had too much alcohol to drink by providing bottles of water and arranging a taxi to escort them home safely.

Chris brought along one of the ruck sacks that the pastors carry and explained its contents which included foil blankets to provide warmth, flip flops, lollipops to calm people down, disposable gloves, wet wipes, bottled water, first aid kit, a phone charger, packs of tissues, sign posting cards and much more. Each pastor is also equipped with a radio for keeping in contact with their colleagues, the police and the security personnel who operate in Market St on Friday and Saturday evenings.

We were told that the cost of running the service is about £4,500.00 a year which provides the pastors with their uniforms, their radios and the equipment and ruck sacks which they carry with them. The talk was well received and Chris answered lots of questions from the floor.