Mark Shelford, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset, joined the Bath City Pastors on patrol recently... His comments back included, "it was great to meet your dedicated team, and I left with an overpowering sense that young people enjoying a night out were in safe hands should they need to call on your support"
Called to help the homeless...
Here's Dave Fawcett from Halifax. In West Yorkshire, he is currently the CEO of Happydays Ministries UK, which he founded in 2014, following an audible call from God to be a "Homeless Pastor." Since 2014, Happydays has grown to a staff team of 45, with 105 flats to home the homeless, they also run a food bank, homeless night shelter, social supermarket, food distribution hub and a feeding and support programme. Over the past two years Dave has felt more and more led to go back to the grassroots of serving the homeless pastorally. He would love to hear from you if you have a passion for serving the homeless in your local area. He's looking at developing a network of people wanting to pastor the homeless around the UK, are you interested? If so message ROC Angels / [email protected] and we will connect you... Paul was at Barnsley College speaking to around 40 students about the work of Street Angels, Festival Angels and Club Angels alongside safety advice such as Ask for Angela and Walksafe app. The beer goggles were a hit with students and tutors!
Twenty eight people attended a Training evening for new Angylion y Stryd Sir Conwy/Ddinbych projects which are to launch later this year.
The evening started with North Wales Police delivering training around personal safety and an overview of current trends and needs in North Wales particularly along the coast. A Q&A session with the Police covered a wide range of topics which will prove valuable to the Street Angel volunteers when out and about in communities. Haven of Light led a session around human trafficking, modern day slavery and county lines including sharing stories and looking at ways organisations in Wales are working around prevention, ROC Angels looked at the role of Street Angels and how the teams respond to needs at that moment with an overall aim to love the person in front of us. Further training and awareness raising tools available online were shared. This online training will raise awareness for volunteers in areas such as drugs and alcohol, domestic violence, first aid, drink spiking and mental health. Details of the apps WalkSafe and SayHi were also shared. Funding for Angylion y Stryd Sir Conwy/Ddinbych has come from the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner’s Innovate to Grow initiative. This fund helps support new and innovative ways of solving the problems that can often lead to criminal behaviour in communities. Several projects will be starting throughout 2023 including: In Colwyn Bay 20 Station Road will be open as a Safe Hub and be a base for Street Angels teams. The Street Angels are planning to cover the twilight hours, in partnership with Youth for Christ, and on weekend nights. In Rhos-on-Sea a Chaplaincy team will offer support to businesses in the community. In Rhyl the group were looking at the possibility of a safe place shop in the town centre alongside Street Angels on weekend nights in the summer season. Caravan Angels, who will travel between the caravan parks along the coast, are also planned offering support in partnership with the caravan parks and sites. It is hoped to run Festival Angel teams at large events in Rhyl, Colwyn Bay and Llandudno. A meeting was also held with church leaders in Llandudno which started the conversation around the potential for Street Angels and Community Angels in the town. For more information visit www.streetangels.org.uk/angylionystryd Source
Staff at HiB have raised hundreds of pounds by swapping their beds for sofas and cardboard boxes in support of a local cause. The Sofa Surf event raised more than £600 for the Tamworth Street Angels, who are part of the Redeeming our Communities (ROC) Angels charity. The organisation works to support the general public and vulnerable people out on the streets. Volunteers ensure that individuals in the community are safe while out at night, helping to reduce violence and hospital admissions. Staff from across HiB took shelter in cardboard boxes and slept on sofas and shared photos of their evening on social media. Friends and family of those taking part were invited to sponsor the event and HiB pledged to donate £10 for each staff member who took part. Speaking about the Sofa Surf event, HiB Employee and Customer Experience Director Emma Cuggy said: “Tamworth Street Angels do fantastic work to help those in need on the streets and at events in the communities, particularly at night. These people give up their time to ensure that others are kept safe and away from harm. “David Cooley, who is a HiB Quality Control Operative, is himself a volunteer for Street Angels and generously donates his time to help others, so we wanted to do our bit to help make sure that the charity can continue their good work in the community. It is fantastic that we raised £610 for the cause.” Towns that have Street Angel teams report around a 45% decrease in incidents which require Police or Paramedic intervention. Businesses in the night-time economy also report an increase in trade. Talking about the Street Angels, David Cooley said: “Our main purpose is to prevent someone from becoming vulnerable or to assist them if they need help. As Street Angel we need to be compassionate, caring, and non-judgemental, we are there to listen to anyone who is struggling. We have training in First Aid and how to use a Defibrillator, as well as Conflict Resolution. “We give out bottles of water and flip-flops to those who have removed their shoes. Money raised will be used to help set up new teams and to provide more resources like this for those already operating.” Caring for the community and making a substantial difference to the lives of others is at the heart of operations at HiB. The company supports several initiatives and fundraisers throughout the year, helping to raise money and awareness for local and national charities. For more information about ROC Angels visit https://roc.uk.com/ For more information about HiB’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) news visit https://www.hib.co.uk/corporate-social-responsibility/ Source The work of ROC Angels, which supports projects such as Street Angels and Festival Angels, continues to grow and develop. Here is a snapshot of what 2023 has looked like so far! Sharing Stories: At the ROC Conference in November several local projects met up and shared stories and filmed TikTok videos which have proved popular on social media. Telling the stories of faith in action through the amazing investment volunteers are making into local communities is one of our passions. This last few weeks has seen us: talking to groups of luncheon clubs, schools, church communities and WI’s showing faith in action; taking part in several media opportunities across newspapers, radio and TV; sharing the good, the bad and the ugly of heading up a national Christian ministry to those at the start of a similar journey; talking about influence to The Independent Schools Christian Alliance. Festival Angels: Festival Angels season is now underway. Although these don’t happen until the summer there is a lot of planning, recruiting and organising involved in each festival outreach. ROC Angels is either running or supporting teams at Porthleven Food Festival, Tunes in the Dunes, Creamfields, Download, 12 gigs in Halifax Piece Hall, several festivals in Upton-upon-Severn, Kendal Calling, CreationFest and Leeds Festival. Festival Angels is a great opportunity to share that Jesus Loves Festivals in very practical ways and is seen as a trusted and valued partner with festival organisers. For more information visit festivalangels.org.uk or watch this video which shows life at Leeds Festival: Angylion y Stryd Sir Conwy/Ddinbych: At the invitation of the Police at the ROC Conversation held in September we have started the process of setting up Street Angels in North Wales. ROC Angels founder and CEO Paul Blakey was in North Wales in January and presented the Street Angels story to over 60 people across 3 events in Towyn, Rhyl and Colwyn Bay. Funding has come from North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner’s Innovate to Grow initiative with the PCC, Andy Dunbobbin, attending the event in Colwyn Bay. Letters of support for the scheme have been received from Members of the Welsh Parliament Janet Finch-Saunders MS/AS and Sam Rowlands MS and local councillors. At the information events a whole range of potential ideas were shared including: Chaplaincy support to businesses and people in town centres during the day Street Angels twilight to engage with young people Safe place drop-in / cafe day and night time Street Angels in Colwyn Bay and Rhyl Festival Angels around Colwyn Bay park events and maybe Rhyl airshow Caravan Park Angels travelling along the many caravan parks across the coast Paul is in North Wales again in February to run a training night and to meet church leaders in Llandundo. It is hoped to launch projects from Easter with many running for the summer season. Visiting and Supporting Projects: Paul is actively out and about visiting projects or on phone and zoom calls offering support. 2023 visits include Hanley NightChurch and Blackpool and the Fylde Street Angels. Paul has also visited and supported potential new street projects in Skelmersdale, Northwich and Bridlington and chatted to many local teams about re-looking at the work they do as town and city centres at night and subsequently needs change (a recent report showed trade was down by 21% in December 2022 compared to December 2019). WalkSafe app: ROC Angels has partnered with an amazing new app that helps people be safe when out and about. Free to download from the Play or App Store Walksafe – walksafe.io – will also start to include live feeds of where those who are needing support can find one of the ROC Angel teams. Launched at an event in Bradford the app can be used to help locate friends and join friends virtually on journeys home. Connect:
You can connect with ROC Angels on several social media platforms – ROCStreetAngels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok or streetangels.org.uk . Our Festival Angels work is FestivalAngels on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok and FestivalAngels1 on Instagram. We regularly share updates from our local projects and ROC Angels nationally. A training evening for new volunteers of Angylion y Stryd Sir Conwy/Ddinbych is set for later this month.
The training, to be held on Monday 27th February, 6pm - 9pm at Festival Church, 87 Gors Rd, Towyn, Abergele LL22 9NR, will equip volunteers as they head to towns across North Wales coastal towns over the 2023 summer season. Information events held in January saw over sixty people hear the Street Angels story and start to look and plan ways the scheme would work in North Wales. Paul Blakey MBE, the founder of Street Angels, said, "The ideas and vision for Angylion y Stryd are exciting. The UK ROC Angels team are now working with the local church and community to help make these ideas a reality. Alongside the typical weekend night-time patrols we are looking at safe place drop-in cafes, a mobile team visiting different caravan parks, Festival and Event Angels, chaplaincy to businesses and visitors to town centres and twilight Angels working earlier in the evening." The training will cover a wide range of subjects including conflict awareness, drug and alcohol awareness, human trafficking and the roles and responsibilities of a Street Angels team. Some of the training will be delivered by North Wales Police with further training and awareness raising resources available online. Funding for the project has come from the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner’s Innovate to Grow initiative. This fund helps support new and innovative ways of solving the problems that can often lead to criminal behaviour in communities. The North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, Andy Dunbobbin, attended the information event in Colwyn Bay. Letters of support for the scheme have been received from Members of the Welsh Parliament Janet Finch-Saunders MS/AS and Sam Rowlands MS. For more information and to sign up as a volunteer visit streetangels.org.uk/angylionystryd or come along to the training on Monday 27th February, 6pm at Festival Church Towyn. |
ROC Angels NewsThis blog is a place for stories and news updates from within the ROC Angels family. |
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 |