In 2008 a few leaders of RCN caught the vision of Street Pastors and set up a management team and the Street Pastors initiative was launched in February 2009. Training began in June 2009 when 27 volunteers were trained and commissioned and the first “night out” was 16th October 2009, on the streets of Reading.

We are part of a national team first pioneered in 2003, and Street Pastors continues to grow throughout the UK and across the world.

Street pastors are trained volunteers from local churches and we care about our community.

We are usually on patrol from 10:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. every Friday and Saturday night to CARE, LISTEN, and HELP people in the Reading Town Centre.

In 2012, we were invited to patrol inside Reading Festival and since then we have been invited back each year and for the last 6 years, we have had a tents on two of the campsites at the festival , we are open for the 24/7 throughout the festival, providing a chill out space, refreshments and a chat. 

We have been working in partnership with the local police, and for the previous 6 years we have been patroling at Henley Regatta during the night time, ensuring that people get home safely. For the past two years, we have been working with the Windsor Street Angels at Royal Ascot.

Again with our stong relationship with the night time economy, we are asked to have extra patrols during Fresher’s Week.

As Street Pastors, we don’t just go out in the evenings for the night time economy, 5 years ago the British Transport Police asked if we could start up a team of Rail Pastors, who go out in the day time to local train stations, again to CARE, LISTEN and HELP anyone in need.

In more recent times, Reading Police have asked if we can support them in the Covid-19 outbreak, patrolling around Reading Town centre as people come to terms with the current situation, supporting potentially vulnerable and lonely people who are coming to the town centre to escape their problems and concerns relating to isolation.

We are led by our local coordinator and we also have support from local churches and community groups in partnership with the Police, Festival Republic, Reading Bid, SFL and Transform Reading.

If you are interested in finding out more about our work, or are interested in becoming a Street Pastor, please contact us using the details on this page.