More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Dover Street Pastors mark their 10th anniversary this month.
And a special celebration for them takes place in a couple of weeks with the public invited.
The volunteers come out at night helping revellers such as through offering food, hot drinks or first aid.
They also clear discarded bottles and glasses and help with recharging phones or making calls for stranded individuals.
The celebration is from 6.30pm on Friday, September 24, at the One Church, Noah’s Ark Road, Dover.
Les Isaac, founder of Street Pastors UK, will be the keynote speaker and cut a specially commissioned cake.
A new video showcasing the work of the Dover Street Pastors will be launched at the event.
"The pastors give flip-flops to those who can no longer walk in high heels."
Since 2011 these teams of specially trained volunteers have patrolled the town most weekends from around 8pm until the early hours offering help wherever and whenever it is needed.
They also offer thermal blankets to rough sleepers, clear broken glass and even offer flip-flops to women who can no longer walk on high heels.
Currently in Dover there are five teams of street pastors plus groups of prayer pastors who work a four-weekly rota.
The teams meet at a base where the prayer pastors remain and pray for the safety of the street pastors when they go out on patrol.
They also track activity using CCTV so they can relay anything relevant to the team on the ground who then go to the incident to offer help.
In 2019 nearly 2,000 hours were put in by volunteers and contact was made with nearly 900 Dover people whilst out on patrol.
Dover Street Pastors are a group of Christians from different churches across the town.
They work in partnership with Kent Police, Dover District Council, Dover Community Safety Partnership, Dover Outreach Centre and other relevant organisations to help support a peaceful presence on the night-time streets in Dover.
Mr Isaac pioneered the scheme in London in 2003.
On that first night, 18 volunteers took to the streets of Brixton, 15 women and three men.
Since then more than 12,000 Street and Prayer Pastors have been trained.
Currently, more than 240 town and cities around the UK have a Street Pastors team, adding up to 20,000 volunteers for the entire network.
Other dignitaries invited to the Dover celebration include representatives from Dover District Council, Kent Police, Dover
Outreach Centre and Dover Harbour Board.
They will be there with members of local churches, heads of secondary schools, local supporting businesses, plus past and present volunteers.
Places can be booked by emailing secretary.dover@streetpastors.org.uk but the service will also be live streamed on YouTube. For further details see the Facebook page Dover Street Pastors Initiative.
