Hucknall Street Pastors disbands after a decade

Hucknall's team of Street Pastors have been forced to cease operations due to financial reasons.

The group of Christian volunteers who patrolled the town's nightlife hotspots during the weekends for nearly a decade were expected to return once all the Coronavirus restrictions had been lifted. However, changes in the licensing rules mean that it is no longer financially viable for Hucknall to run its own Street Pastor initiative.

Martin Hodge, one of the founding members of Hucknall Street Pastors said: "Personally I probably went through a bit of a grieving process, I was angry, and then I was cross and upset, and then sort of resigned to it. I guess now I'm a little bit removed from it, I'm a little more reflective."

Hodge, along with two other Christians from Hucknall first brought the initiative to the town ten years ago.

"We knew that there was a need for it, there were issues in the town centre that the police didn't have the resources to deal with. What would happen is that people would end up getting into trouble. Actually what everybody wanted, the police and the local authority, was for a team of people who could try and get alongside people and resolve the problems.

"And so with some funding from Ashfield District Council, with some support from the police and with training from an organisation called the Ascension Trust (the organisation that manages and oversees all Street Pastor initiatives around the world), twelve of us from the local churches in Hucknall applied and trained up to become street pastors working exclusively in Hucknall. That's the important thing about street pastors is that it's a local initiative staffed by local but trained people so that the support we offer is very specific to the area that we work in."

The Street Pastors administered basic first aid, ensured people got home safely if they'd had too much to drink and listened to people who perhaps just needed someone to talk to. Whilst they never shied away from the fact they were a Christian organisation, Hodge says talking about their faith wasn't the primary objective of the group.

"We were the church in action on the streets. And so if people asked us who we were and why we did what we did, we would always be absolutely honest and tell them. We prayed for people on the streets, we prayed with people on the streets but that wasn't what it was about. It was about us demonstrating the love of Jesus by actions.

"Probably the biggest symbol was the fact that on those cold, wet November nights, we were there standing outside holding an umbrella over someone, or mopping up someone's vomit, or treating a minor injury, covering someone in a blanket whilst waiting for an ambulance to come, calling a taxi, we were there demonstrating that love."

The Street Pastors had operated right up until the first lockdown in March of last year.

Hodge said: "We did a few prayer walks after that, and once the pubs opened up after the very first lockdown in summer 2020 we did a few prayer walks to see what the town centre was like and try to evaluate what need there was.

"Unfortunately, we had been informed at that time of the changes to the licensing process for Street Pastors so we were in negotiations with the Ascension Trust to try and work out a way forward. Unfortunately that was not something we were able to achieve and so the decision was taken late on last year to cease operations and then the process of winding up began."

In terms of the future, Hodge thinks there's a possibility that something similar could be started up but states that there aren't any firm plans at this moment in time.

Reflecting on what is next for the town, he said: "Maybe for Hucknall, that period of time, the last decade that we've had, was right for Street Pastors, and maybe Street Pastors isn't quite the right approach for Hucknall at the moment. It may be that something different is needed, it might be that Street Pastors themselves are needed again in the future but maybe not right now."