The group welcomed speaker John Bown, a former policeman, to the May meeting. Having spent 30 years in the force covering various roles, he had met many people from all walks of life. Following retirement and, as a committed Christian living locally, he felt a calling to become a Street Pastor in Chesterfield, their tagline being ‘to help, care and listen’. He mentioned a good read entitled ‘The God Conundrum’ by David Harper of ‘Antiques Roadshow’ fame, as an easy and useful guide to life, the universe and everything.
So, John became part of a team spending their time from 10pm on a Saturday night to 4am on a Sunday morning visiting parts of the town known to be those frequented by the public who might be in need of a listening ear or some other issue. Teams of at least one man and one lady were needed to protect themselves from any abuse that might be encountered by them. John ‘worked’ with his wife for 4 years during which time they were not allowed to preach to those they met but, were permitted to pray with and for them. He did find the whole experience very rewarding. This became apparent especially when meeting some people at a later date, and in a different environment, who acknowledged and thanked him for what their chance meetings had led to and
meant to them as individuals.
Moving on, volunteers from four churches agreed to run a holiday club to cover differing age groups each day for the 5 – 11’s, 12 – teens and, older children in the evening. These took place in Queens Park providing different activities for each group. A café was set up as well for the youths which was overly popular. In recent years a ‘Prayer Stall’ has been set up in New Square, on a Friday morning by John and Will N., and available for anyone wishing for or needing prayer or, simply just to talk, which again has proved really worthwhile. All in all, then, John has been an inspiration to many and has managed to transform a good number of lives. His talk on the evening proved just what can be done for others given the right approach and attitude. He has written his own books about his life doing what he enjoyed. Money given by the group on the evening, was to be donated to another charity who had visited us in recent months, namely to help the Saltergate Children’s Home in Ethiopia, also based in Chesterfield.
We look forward to welcoming speaker Chrissie Hall, to our next meeting to be held on Wednesday 3 June. She will be talking about writing our own life stories. If you wish to know more about the group, please have a word with Trish L, Marilyn J or myself. Do come along and give us a try. We charge £3 per evening to cover costs for the speaker, help towards the hire of the Parish Room and, refreshments to include a ticket for the raffle prize.
Wendy Drake