Street patrol runs from dusk ‘til dawn
Street pastor Philip Jones during his sponsored twelve hour shift on Friday night in Market Harborough. (Mail Picture: Andrew Carpenter/MHMP 001602-66)
A STREET pastor braved the cold as he patrolled Harborough for a marathon 12 hours to raise funds for the movement.
The Street Pastors usually finish their patrols at about 1am, but as his colleagues left for home on Friday night, Philip Jones faced a long, cold night ahead.
The chairman of the Harborough group continued his patrol of the town until 6.30am, taking in Great Bowden, Little Bowden, Bath Street and the town centre.
He hopes the nigyht shift will raise £500 for the group, which is the monthly cost to keep it running in Harborough.
The longer shift had another benefit, as Mr Jones and prayer support member Peter Arnold spotted a fight in Coventry Road at about 3.30pm.
Mr Jones said: “I contacted the CCTV centre on the radio and the police came out but by that time it had broken up.
“I think we do a good job but we usually finish by about 1am. This showed there are public order issues into the night.
“We’re looking to push our start time back so we can stay put later and hopefully catch these incidents before they flare up.
“Peter finished for the night then I did a further two circuits.
“It was a cold night but it wasn’t too bad, about -1C. It was foggy in the early part of the evening but it cleared up and turned into quite a nice evening.”
Mr Jones said he received plenty of support on the night, including from the Chip Inn, which gave him free fish and chips, and a couple of pub-goers who donated their spare change to the cause.
“A lot of people have shown us a lot of goodwill,” he said.
“I’ve raised about £450 so far but I hope to reach £500.
“The night was also about the notion me going around the town as a Street Pastor, and keeping it in my thoughts and prayers.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Harborough
Saturday 25 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 6 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: West
