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The Senior Citizens’ Award sponsored by Johnston Press This award is for someone who is 60 and over and has either achieved great things in the community, is involved in volunteer work, overcame a major hardship, or achieved distinction in some other field. Winner: Daphne Cherry Daphne, aged 75, has been patrolling with Bedford Street Angels since 2009. She is a supporting granny figure to many young and old, helping vulnerable people on the streets of Bedford on Saturday nights and early Sunday morning. Teams of volunteers across the country will be keeping Christmas revelers safe this festive season.
Street and Club Angels will be out and about in one hundred and thirty towns across the UK offering flip-flops, lollipops, first aid assistance and bottles of water. Several projects are also running additional services to meet the Christmas demand including safe place drop-in's, A&E staff joining the teams on patrol and multi-agency mobile support units. Founder of Street Angels - Christian Nightlife Initiatives (CNI) Network, Paul Blakey MBE, comments, "Christmas is one of the busiest times of year for our volunteer teams and we often meet people not used to town and city centres at night. Our teams, who work brilliantly throughout the year, will be out and about in force to ensure that people have a safe and fun night." To help people have a safe and fun night out we offer the following advice:
Photos: Street Angels Leeds on patrol Mad Friday 2014: Merry Christmas from CNI Network
Paul, Jean and the Trustees would like to thank all those who have supported CNI Network throughout 2015 in what has been an amazing year of making the difference in 130 local communities across the UK and overseas. We have seen: new projects started; increased media coverage; a National Conference; local project visits with the #VolunteersAreAmazing booklets; awareness raising of CNI and local projects at conferences and events; hundreds hearing our story through talks; increased work at music festivals and sporting events and a year of celebration of all we achieve together! THANK YOU - have a lovely Christmas and New Year www.cninetwork.org.uk / www.facebook.com/cninetwork / www.twitter.com/cninet Download the PDF poster “The Street Angels are fantastic, they are a wonderful group of volunteers, we couldn’t ask for more dedicated and kind people that literally just want to go out and help.” - Councillor Carwyn Cox, Windsor
Quote from article on Windsor's night-time economy Paul and Jean visited Night Church - York last night / this morning (2/3 December). The project sees students (and others) offering a safe place and a place to connect spiritually on student nights. They will be back on the last Wednesday in January!
" and God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth" Luke 1:26
Nazareth had a bad reputation. An unimportant town, hidden away in the mountains of Galilee, it was behind the times, lacked culture, used crude language and was not respectable, admirable or honourable. It was spoken about with disgust, was not the ideal vacation spot, was not a place to start a business or a nice family to move the community into. It had a serious lack or religious adherence and very low morals. No-one in their right mind expected the Messiah to turn up here. Indeed Nathaniel on hearing that this was where Jesus came from, incredulously asks the question “Can anything good come from Nazareth?!!” This question often echoes in my ears as I walk around 'Veronicas', the infamous nightlife strip of Las Americas. This place has a bad reputation. The police patrol the streets. There is open binge-drinking, drug-taking, violence, sex, pick-pocketing, dishonesty, prostitution, lies, swearing and more. It is not respectable, admirable or honourable. It is often spoken about with disgust. It has a serious lack of morals. Many people expect that Jesus would not turn up here. But he does. We have seen addiction broken, a suicidal man persuaded that there is hope and a young girl abused by every man she has ever known start to believe in a God that loves her. Drug dealers have been reduced to tears by the powerful words of Christ, girls have decided not to sell their bodies anymore. Young people slowly starting to wonder what a relationship with God would be like. A stripper hears the bible explained in a way that she understands and then wants one, whilst a heroin addict who is unsure if he still has a soul, comes to ask us what we think. A man diagnosed with hepatitis c and sentenced to a slow and painful death is miraculously healed one week and the next a young guy is moved to admit that he wants “what you all have”. We have stood bible in hand, sharing Christ, in the middle of the madness, prayed with people in the middle of the vomit and comforted and reassured in the middle of the desperation. Jesus is willing to turn up in dark places, are you? TheLivingRoom.es Boro Angels, Middlesbrough, are a strategic partner in the operation of a Safe Place Haven. The scheme has proved an overwhelming success as David Gee, coordinator of Boro Angels, explains in this BBC Radio Tees interview: Many of the biggest benefits are preventative and, therefore, difficult to quantify - e.g. 12 people (a mixture of males and females) presented to the service on a Saturday in October having been spiked with rohypnol but all were cared for and got home safely as a result; several females have been prevented from getting into taxis with males who they didn’t know; people have been prevented from drink driving; ambulances are regularly stood down when the team are the first responders; etc. A presentation about the work of Safe Haven is below. This story from September where the victim mentioned the Safe Haven (in the middle section of wording between the two picture groups) Some facts:
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Bishop Tony Robinson and Paul Blakey MBE, founder of the Halifax Street Angels, joined volunteers from the project on Wednesday evening to celebrate its ten year anniversary. Mr Blakey and the Bishop of Wakefield were joined by the co-ordinator of Stockton Town Pastors, Steve Brock, and a number of representatives from the Calderdale Police to thank the volunteers for their ‘dedication’ to making Halifax a safer place and for inspiring the launch of over 130 similar projects across the country, in what MP Holly Lynch describes as "one of Halifax's greatest exports to the UK and beyond”. The Rt Revd Tony Robinson, Bishop of Wakefield and patron of the Street Angels – Christian Nightlife Initiatives (CNI) Network, says, “I remember spending a night out with Street Angels in Halifax about ten years ago. “I was so impressed by the dedication of the volunteers who give up their time to help those who find themselves on the streets late at night in a bad way. “This is Christians putting the gospel into practice! “Today there are now over 130 such projects and umpteen hours of volunteer time each week,” Bishop Tony continues. “Street Angels has the support of local Councils and the Police forces because they know it helps reduce crime and make people feel safer. “Long may it continue to grow!” The Street Angels patrol the streets of Halifax on Friday and Saturday nights to provide help, support and safety for those ‘who have been spiked, are victims of crime, [are] homeless or…have had too much to drink’ in the ‘town centre’s night-time economy’. Each year since 2005, the Street Angels provide Halifax with around 13,000 volunteer hours and help around 3,000 people. The celebration event on Wednesday took place in Halifax Minster and marked ten years to the day that the first Street Angels project was launched in the town. After Bishop Tony’s speech which opened the evening, founder of the Street Angels, Paul Blakey, described Halifax as the ‘Wild West of Yorkshire’ and praised the volunteers for changing this reputation. Many of the Street Angels shared stories of their experiences with the project and expressed their hopes for the future of the initiative. Since the project was set up in November 2005, the Street Angels have already helped to reduce crime in Halifax town centre by 57% and have earned the town a Purple Flag Award, meaning that Halifax has reached ‘standards of excellence in managing the evening and night-time economy’. The Street Angels have already branched out and are now working at Festivals and abroad with their project in Magaluf; they have joined with Bus Oasis to provide a mobile support base in the town; they set up a café and Christian bookshop; and have started working in schools, colleges and youth groups to educate you people about alcohol, drug and crime awareness. For his work in setting up the Street Angels, Paul Blakey was awarded a MBE by her Majesty the Queen in 2010 and was given the Big Society Award by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2012. For more information on the work of the Street Angels in Halifax, visit: www.halifaxstreetangels.org.uk For more information on the work of CNI Network across the UK and overseas, visit: www.cninetwork.org.uk The work of Halifax Street Angels celebrated its tenth anniversary at a special event in Halifax's historic Minster.
The event, ten years to the day since the first Street Angels was launched, celebrated the work and impact of volunteers in the town centre's night-time economy. The evening started with the patron of Street Angels - Christian Nightlife Initiatives (CNI) Network, Bishop of Wakefield, Right Reverend Tony Robinson, thanking those who have made Street Angels a reality and sharing his own experiences of joining the teams in Halifax, Wakefield and Huddersfield. The founder, Paul Blakey MBE, spoke about the reputation of Halifax as the 'Wild West of West Yorkshire' and how this pioneering work has changed that around. Paul shared how Halifax Street Angels had a vision to help and support other communities set up similar projects working on the streets, inside clubs, at music festivals and sporting events and within A&E departments. Today there are one hundred and thirty local projects in what MP Holly Lynch describes as "one of Halifax's greatest exports to the UK and beyond." The coordinator of Stockton Town Pastors, Steve Brock, shared how the Halifax team and CNI Network was instrumental in launching the nine projects in the North East region. Volunteer Tom Black spoke about seeing the Street Angels out and about as he enjoyed a night out and one day waking up to discover the Street Angels team had helped him the night before. Deciding to give up on night's out he became a Street Angel which had given him life skills that had helped him become a better and more confident person. Ben Doughty and Dudley Martin thanked the volunteers on behalf of Calderdale Police. The Purple Flag award for Halifax demonstrates the impact and value the flourscent yellow wearing team have made in the town centre as a visible presence, the provision of a safe place drop-in and integration of services received excellent/outstanding in last years Purple Flag assessment. Working with Bus Oasis the Police and Street Angels are to provide a mobile support base in the heart of the town centre over this years Christmas period. The evening concluded with Ellis King, Leah Mullins and Trevor Bendrien sharing the future vision for the work in Halifax including opening Angels Rest cafe as a youth drop-in on Thursday evenings and for hot meals and company for homeless or lonely people on Sunday evenings. For more information on the work in Halifax visit www.halifaxstreetangels.org.uk . For more information on the work of CNI Network across the UK and overseas visit www.cninetwork.org.uk . |
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ROC Angels - an initiative of ROC (Redeeming Our Communities)
Charity - 1139817 / Registered Company - 7327258 Postal Address: ROC Angels, c/o The King's Centre, Park Rd, Halifax, HX1 2TS E-Mail: [email protected] (founder / CEO) / Phone: 07725501465 |