News & Events

Queens award for voluntary service given to Stourbridge Street Pastors In Queens Birthday honours list.

Jun 12, 2018 | Awards, Press releases

We are delighted to announce that Her Majesty the Queen has awarded Stourbridge Street Pastors the Queens Award for Voluntary Service in her list of awards on June 2nd.

The award is a recognition of the contribution the team have made to the safety, welfare and environment of Stourbridge during its 9 years of work. The pastors have patrolled from 10 pm until 3am in Stourbridge town Centre every Saturday night and on occasions also at other times. They are a well-known unit who offer help to anyone in trouble in the town. They help with first aid, deal with people suffering from the effects of drugs or alcohol, calm down groups in conflict and clean up broken glass and cans to prevent injury.

Over the year, the group will be in contact with several thousand people in the night time economy. They gave 1,200 volunteer hours last year supporting those in the town centre and supplied almost 500 pairs of free flip flops when high heels are causing too much pain. The result has been that Stourbridge is a safer place to visit. Many of the regular visitors to the pubs and clubs often comment on how good it is to have “our “street pastors around. The Police, Local Authority Business community and Local Churches are partners in the work and have frequently commented on its value.

The team has 30 members who patrol and another 20 in support roles such as administration and prayer. All are committed Christians and are strongly supported from 15 local Churches from all denominations in the area. All are volunteers, we thank God for their support and dedication.

Dave Watts, Chairman of Stourbridge Street Pastors Said “Over the past year the town has had too much bad news; we are delighted that Her Majesty has given us some good news in recognizing the tremendous work done by our team over the years and the contributions of all our local partners. The award honours all who have worked together to serve our night time community. It also recognises our work helping form other local Street Pastor groups and the Regional Rail Pastor project”.

ENDS

FURTHER INFORMATION:

ALISON UNDERWOOD
07910 641833 or 07881780452
stourbridge@streetpastors.org.uk

Dave (Watts)
Trustee and Treasurer