For someone who's been out for a night on the tiles and has found themselves in trouble or crisis on leaving the club or pub, having had one too many drinks or having got themselves into a fight, the street pastors are Kingston Town’s own local heroes.
Never far from the scene, the Street Pastors provide a watchful eye and a helping hand to those in crisis. I meet them at 9.45 on a Friday night at the United Reform Church in the centre of Kingston.
They are all Christians who volunteer their time freely and tonight's team will consist of four 'street pastors' and two 'prayer pastors'.
The street pastors are the public face of the operation and they are supported and aided by the prayer pastors whose job it is to stay inside the church for the duration of the evening and pray for the peace and wellbeing of everyone involved in tonight’s street shenanigans, whoever they might be.
The street pastors are the public face of the operation and they are supported and aided by the prayer pastors whose job it is to stay inside the church for the duration of the evening and pray for the peace and wellbeing of everyone involved in tonight’s street shenanigans, whoever they might be.
Tracey, the leader of tonight's group, is a large friendly blonde lady with slick designer specs, a broad smile and a heart of gold.
She leads a youth group at church on Sundays, does her duty as a street pastor once or twice a month, and in the week she runs her own care home for the elderly in Farnham.
She tells me that she's been a Christian for 20 years, and that the decision to become a prayer pastor came naturally to her, when Paul Jacobs, the founder of the Kingston group told her about his intentions to start a chapter in Kingston almost 10 years ago.
“I used to be one of them kids” - she says, “I studied nursing at Kingston university, and I was out on the town three nights a week, drinking vodka, drinking beer, you name it.
When Paul told me I thought to myself 'that's a bus I wanna be on', I just wanted to help”.
When Paul told me I thought to myself 'that's a bus I wanna be on', I just wanted to help”.
And help she has. Tonight's mission is to keep a watchful eye on the streets over by TK Max, next to McClusky's nightclub.
She tells us that Darren, an Inspector at Kingston Police Station has already warned her about an alleged rape near the shop earlier tonight by an unlicensed taxi-driver, and that they will have four PCSOs there tonight.
She tells us that Darren, an Inspector at Kingston Police Station has already warned her about an alleged rape near the shop earlier tonight by an unlicensed taxi-driver, and that they will have four PCSOs there tonight.
One of the pastors, Paul, reminds the group that it is the end of the month, payday has come and that the pedestrians are already out in force.
He is cautious, pessimistic, but still upbeat. They discuss the club, Ananda, which had its licence revoked in the last few weeks and wonder if it will be open tonight.
He is cautious, pessimistic, but still upbeat. They discuss the club, Ananda, which had its licence revoked in the last few weeks and wonder if it will be open tonight.
According to the Street Pastors, crime has gone down 40% in the last year in Kingston, and the pastors, the police and the local council together have played a major role in making the area safer.
It's referred to as the trinity partnership: and underneath that umbrella are a diverse array of initiatives like “Pubwatch” and “B.O.B.B.” which help ensure that the night-time economy functions smoothly and facilitates a cohesive response to any violence or trouble arising in the course of an average evening.
Graciea, a smooth-skinned softly spoken pastor with a wry smile and dreamy look in her eye says to me: “If you wanna see faith in action, hang out with the Street Pastors. What we do is amazing. Violence just melts away, problems are solved within seconds or minutes as soon as we arrive. We maintain total independence and the police respect us because they've seen what we can do”.
After a prayer session, the street pastors depart from the church leaving their counterparts behind to venture onto the streets. The first place we visit is a nightclub that used to be called “The Works”.
Paul tells me that the police used to be really aggressive down here when it was the local youth club. He says: “They used to come down here with video cameras, shining lights in the kids’ faces and getting them all on video.”
“This club used to be the roughest in town, and there were always lots of fights: we couldn’t be seen to be sympathising with the police as we’d lose the respect of the kids, so it was a tough balancing act”
“This club used to be the roughest in town, and there were always lots of fights: we couldn’t be seen to be sympathising with the police as we’d lose the respect of the kids, so it was a tough balancing act”
Things have changed now though, as the pastors are welcomed at the door of the club and talk genially with the security men. The youth club has long been closed and the club that replaced it has much less trouble. In the last year alone crime in Kingston has dropped by 40% and the pastors have been awarded money by the local police station in recognition of their work.
We walk calmly around the streets for another half hour, picking up bottles as we go, “The police ask us to pick them up, but the problem is, there’s nowhere to put them” Paul points out, “We’ve talked to the local council and asked them to put more bottle banks on the street, but they haven’t done anything”.
Outside Ananda’s nightclub, a couple of merry girls approach us, break into huge smiles and hug Tracey enthusiastically. Apparently this is par for the course, as Tracey explains to me later: ““I love bringing people laughter. We do a lot of cuddling. One girl I hugged for half an hour, told me that I hugged her better than her mum!”
We stop for a while and talk to Mr. Moon, a local derelict who adorns the street outside TK Maxx every weekend.
“He was a chronic alcoholic” Tracey says, “ He was told he’d have to stop drinking or he’d be dead in a month. We helped find him a home and got him a stove and a TV. He’s been sober for a year now, and now he sells shirts to kids outside McCluskey’s”.
Mr. Moon himself is philosophical about it all. Though Tracey tells me they’d once found him covered in urine after some boys had decided to relieve themselves over him, he is still terribly gentle and very friendly by nature.
He remarks to me that all of this drinking and fighting is ‘human nature’ and that it cannot be helped.
“Every week the police come” he says, “But nothing ever changes. We are all animals”.
In some ways, I sympathise with Mr. Moon. He obviously takes delight in the beautifully long and meticulously shaven legs tottering about on flashy high heels, complete with the figure hugging mini-skirts and swollen bosoms which are on show on an average weekend in Kingston, but I catch myself wondering if it’s really worth getting peed on just to bear witness?
Paul says that nothing has changed during his time as a pastor, but there are indications that the Street Pastors have significantly helped reduce crime in the area, a fact that seems to have been acknowledged by the police last month when they awarded the group just over £1000 for their efforts.
“Its not just the young people either” says Andy, “When I worked up in Town, it was mostly middle aged men who were saying “It’s gonna be amazing tonight, I’m gonna get completely slaughtered”.
There are 19 clubs and night-time bars in Kingston, and some of the clubs support the pastors financially.
Ian, the manager for the King’s Tun says of the pastors “They’ve been a fantastic help for the last two and a half years” and proceeds to explain to me how the integration of CCTV, the taxi wardens, the police, and bouncers and the pastors all pull together during big incidents.
“One time we had to wait for an hour and a half for a ambulance to turn up because there was a big incident on the A2 and the emergency services were all tied up. At times like that the pastor’s help is invaluable”.
“One time we had to wait for an hour and a half for a ambulance to turn up because there was a big incident on the A2 and the emergency services were all tied up. At times like that the pastor’s help is invaluable”.
As we pass Barcadia, a fight kicks off. A DJ has been refused entry, and he decides that its time to start abusing a bouncer.
Things quickly spiral out of control, however, for some reason I’m expecting the presence of the pastors to ensure that the ‘violence will melt away’.
Unexpectedly for me, it doesn’t and the Police arrive minutes later to dole out some of their own rough justice.
This doesn’t mean however that the pastors are somehow redundant or helpless in difficult situations and just an hour later they are all, collectively demonstrating what they can do.
"They’ve been a fantastic help for the last two and a half years"
A girl has passed out on the steps of a local church, and is fitting violently. She is having an epileptic fit. Tracey knows what to do immediately, holding her tight and keeping her from bruising herself on the concrete, she also wraps her in an emergency blanket whilst Paul calls the ambulance. Graceia and Andy talk to her friends to ascertain who she is and if she’s taken any drugs tonight.
After the paramedics wheel her away, we do a last walk around town, picking up more broken bottles and counselling the waifs and strays who’ve had one too many. It is a quiet night, but a very instructive one.
When all’s said and done, the pastors are doing a magnificent job. Helping to provide care and stability in a community which is badly out of touch with itself as, whilst Kingston is a rather wonderful middle-class place, it does have this odd schizophrenia at weekends, the product of a beer based night-time economy no doubt.
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