This blog post is to keep you up to date on what the government’s restrictions mean for Ashford Street Pastors.
What We’ve Been Up To
Ashford Street Pastors has now been running since 2010. We have been out on the streets, meeting people within the community patrolling every Friday / Saturday between 10pm until the early hours. The national lockdown means that Ashford Street Pastors has been unable to do its usual work. Instead of patrolling the streets of Ashford, our teams have been meeting virtually on Friday evenings to pray for the town in this difficult time. We are all aware of the fact that the run up to Christmas is usually a very busy time for our teams. Being unable to patrol has been hard for our volunteers.
This does not mean that we are totally absent from the streets. Last week saw some of our volunteers and Ashford Borough Council taking part in the annual rough sleepers count. We work closely with the Ashford Borough Council to ensure that the work that we do is both safe and effective.
What Tier 3 Means For Us
This week, we switch from a total, countrywide lockdown back to the government’s 3 tiered
system. Kent is one of a number of counties who now have the local tier 3, COVID-19 alert level ‘very high’.
As long as the ‘very high’ alert is in place, the night-time economy in Ashford will not be open. The government’s ‘very high’ COVID alert level for Ashford means that all indoor meeting places have been shut and an absolute maximum 6 people can meet outdoors.
However, the government has recognised the value of what volunteers are doing at this time and so our patrols are exempt from the restrictions. Therefore, we will be out around the town centre from 8.30pm this Friday, Caring, Listening, Helping people in our local community.
‘WASH HANDS – COVER FACE – MAKE SPACE’
Future Plans
Last but not least, keep an eye out on our blog! We’ll be updating regularly.
If you would like to know more about what Ashford Street Pastors does in our local community, sign up for our newsletter. The winter edition will be out on the 9 December.
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Please note that this post was written on 02.12.2020 at which time tier 3 rules applied to the area Ashford Street Pastors carries out its work. For more information on the regulations go to gov.uk/coronavirus.