**Jesmond Street Pastors** Newcastle upon Tyne ## **Annual Trustees Report 2021** 2021 would have been the fifth full year of operation of Jesmond Street Pastors since its incorporation in August 2016. However, as we entered the year, the Covid pandemic was still rampant and as with other charities and organisations, operational activities were again interrupted. The Annual General Meeting of Jesmond Street Pastors would have been held in early 2022 but was postponed due to ongoing restrictions. ## **Jesmond** Jesmond is an affluent residential suburb and is split into two electoral wards just north of the centre of Newcastle Upon Tyne. The population is about 12,000. The area consists of a mixture of residential homes, in mostly Edwardian and Victorian terraces. There is a large student population mainly accommodated in multiple occupancy houses. There are many cafes and restaurants, boutiques and small supermarkets centring along St Georges Terrace, Acorn Road, and Osborne Road. Jesmond Street Pastors patrol the section of Osborne Road where the nightlife is based around several chic cocktail bars. Our base of operations is Jesmond Methodist Church, located on St Georges Terrace. ## **Street Pastors** The Street Pastors initiative was pioneered in London in 2003 by Ascension Trust (https://www.ascensiontrust.org.uk/). A street pastor is a trained volunteer who is a Christian and is part of a local church, and who is concerned for society and their local community. They patrol in teams of men and women, often on a Friday and/or Saturday night, to care for, listen to and help people who are out on the streets. They are willing to engage with people, whatever their perspective on life and wherever they hang out, working in collaboration with other agencies and projects. See https://www.streetpastors.org/ for more information about Street Pastors. Each local Street Pastor project is approved and set up by the Ascension Trust, which is the governing body behind Street Pastors, and run by a local coordinator with support from local churches and community groups, in partnership with the police, local council and other statutory agencies. 1 Currently, over 220 towns and cities around the UK have a Street Pastors team. In addition to Street Pastors, there may be prayer pastors, who support the local team with prayer throughout the patrol period. Each team will have a management committee and trustees elected from local churches. Since 2014, some Street Pastors have received additional training as Response Pastors, who provide support to those affected by a disaster or crisis. Response pastors can be called upon any day or night to support and assist where appropriate. A response pastor is a crucial point of contact and an additional support to the established emergency services. - - See https://www.streetpastors.org/about us/response pastors/. ## **Jesmond Street Pastors Operational Aspects** It had been necessary to stop patrols as lockdown was introduced in March 2020 and even though the night-time economy had reopened in Jesmond in the second part of 2020, after the New Year numerous people were still contracting the virus. The night-time economy was quiet with many people not venturing out. Ascension Trust continued to issue regular updates as the policy and criteria changed in line with outbreaks of the virus. We recommenced patrols in July 2021, giving us time to prepare for the students returning in the September. Once the students returned, the nighttime economy on a Friday night was exceptionally busy. New students arriving plus those returning took to the pubs and bars as they felt they had missed out in previous years. In August, our Coordinator, Mr Chris Lincoln, was approached by the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) about Street Pastor involvement in two new initiatives in the Tyne and Wear area: **Safer Transport** , and **Safer Women at Night (SWAN)** . Jesmond Street Pastors were asked to be the lead team for Street Pastors and Street Angels in the project and received the funding for all the teams. The projects led to a new Bus Patrol on a Thursday afternoon and a Metro patrol on a Friday night, the latter being combined with the team’s regular patrol in Jesmond. These patrols started in November and will finish end of March 2022. We started the year with nine Street pastors and finished with eight. New Street Pastors undergo standard Ascension Trust training programme for new recruits. All Street pastors have to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service check. As reported in 2020, four Street Pastors in Jesmond have been trained as Response Pastors and are now ready to be deployed to major situations. Our Coordinator keeps in touch with local councillors and the Keep Jesmond Clean team, looking at ways to reduce the volumes of glass on the streets 2 and how the street pastors can contribute to public safety on the streets of Jesmond. Even though we are a very small team in Jesmond, there is evidence to show that we are making an impact. ## **Management Committee** During the year, the Management Committee have not met in person but have met as necessary online (using Zoom) and kept up to date via email. Their role is to ensure that the project continues to operate smoothly. They have checked that the project conforms to the new General Data Protection Regulations. In addition, they monitor income and expenditure and plan ways to raise funds. They also check that the project conforms to Charity Commission regulations and follows Ascension Trust guidelines. ## **Trustees and Management Committee** There have been no changes to the Management Committee in 2021. The list of Trustees is as follows. **Chair and Coordinator** : Mr Chris Lincoln, Methodist Church. **Secretary** : Mrs Margaret Graham, Jesmond Methodist Church. **Treasurer** : Mrs Janet Anderson, Jesmond Methodist Church. **Committee members** : Dr Laura Graham, Methodist Church. Mrs Jean Degenhardt, Jesmond United Reformed Church. Rev Canon Brian Hurst, St George’s Jesmond. Mr John Waddell, Church of the Holy Name, Jesmond. Rev Alison Wilkinson, Jesmond Methodist Church. We thank our officers and Trustees for their support and prayers during 2020. It is hoped through time that there will be a representative from all Jesmond Churches on the Management Committee. Mr Chris Lincoln, as Chair of Trustees, spends much of his time liaising with the police and local councillors as well as speaking to the Churches in Jesmond to encourage more volunteers to come forward as Street Pastors or Prayer Pastors. ## **Financial Report** Jesmond Street Pastors is a small project and for its finances relies very much on donations from the local churches, the community and the general public. 3 We received funding from Northumbria Police as part of Street Pastor involvement in the Safer Transport and Safer Women at Night projects. This funding was for retraining of all volunteers and recruitment costs for new volunteers. As lead team we received all the funding. This funding (£40,000) was shared equally between the four Street Pastor teams in the area – Jesmond, Newcastle, Whitley Bay, and Sunderland - as well as Street Angels who operate in South Shields. Expenditure includes essential items such as a mobile phone and insurance for the Street Pastors. The License fee to Ascension Trust is obligatory. Our audited accounts are available separately. We are grateful to our Auditor, Mr David Stabler, for his help and advice. Summary of our accounts for 2021: |**INCOME**||**EXPENDITURE**|| |---|---|---|---| |Donations|£300.00|Mobile phone|£169.71| |Northumbria Police|£40,000.00|Insurance|£221.52| |||Ascension Trust License fee|£712.50| |||Street Angels – South Shields|£8,000.00| |||Whitley Bay Street Pastors|£8,000.00| |||Newcastle Street Pastors|£8,000.00| |||Sunderland Street Pastors|£8,000.00| |**Total Income:**|**£40,300.00**|**Total Expenditure:**|**£33,103.73**| |**BALANCE SHEET**|| |---|---| |Balance at 01/01/2021|£862.03| |Income|£40,300.00| |Total Income|£41,162.03| |Less Expenditure|£33,103.73| |**Closing Balance at 31/12/2021**|**£8,058.30**| In conclusion, we pray that Jesmond Street Pastors will continue to support the night-time economy in Jesmond, and care for, listen to and help people who are out on the streets. 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