Hamlet Court Road in Harmony Festival

Sunday was the Hamlet Court Road in Harmony Festival. A lovely day for such an event. So many lovely local bussiness and craity stalls to walk around, browers and learn about. As well as lots of lovely performers on the stage.

John Levitt the Southend Street Pastors Co-Ordinator had this to say about the day; "We were invited to to the Hamlet Court Road in Harmony Festival. It was an amazing oppertunity to meet other voluntary organisations within Southend. At the event in Southend, we had a fantastic opportunity to experience a wide range of different types of stalls, music, and food. It was a truly amazing day for street engagement.

Our main reason for being there was to increase our visibility within the community of Southend, where we already do a lot of work. We had a stall set up with various activities, but our key aim was to recruit more Street Pastors and Prayer Pastors, which we urgently need.

The role of a Street Pastor is all about listening, caring, and helping. All our team members both Street Pastors and Prayer Pastors are linked to local churches and have been part of a church for at least six months to a year.

At the moment, we have around 30 Street Pastors and about 20 Prayer Pastors. We’re constantly being asked to patrol in Southend, in the parks and other locations, but sadly we can’t cover every request because we simply don’t have enough volunteers.

The event was outstanding. We had some lovely weather it stayed quite calm, and eventually, the sun did come out. Our stall, which was located at the end of the road, was very busy. We had lots of inquiries, and we’re hopeful that they will lead to real engagement. Ideally, people will contact us through our media platforms. We’re active on several sites, and that’s been a great way to connect with the community.

Being a Street Pastor is something I’ve been involved in for nearly 20 years, and now I also serve as the coordinator. It’s a ministry I deeply enjoy, but we truly rely on the support of local churches to build up our volunteer base. We also focus heavily on publicity, and keeping our media channels updated is essential.

We also have a very active trustee and management team, and we’re fortunate in Southend to be able to call on local professionals to assist with training. We work closely with other agencies too especially the Samaritans, the police, the council, nighttime door staff, and park attendants.

So yes, it was a wonderful day. We’ll be back again next year this is an annual event so keep an eye out for it."

It was a great day for the the Southend Street Pastors and the wider commity if you were there and came by it was great to see you and if not hope to see you next year!