CLOCK Street Pastors making a difference
Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly and Kelty (CLOCK) Street Pastors are a local branch of the national Street Pastors network. This group of volunteers offers practical help, a listening ear and a friendly face to all they meet out and about on the streets of Cowdenbeath.
This year, the CLOCK team is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Supported by the Mossmorran Community Fund since 2016, the group has been awarded £4,000 to date towards general running costs. This has allowed the team of 8 Cowdenbeath based volunteers to run patrols in the town centre and at various Fife Circle railway stations.
The project
The Street Pastors are available in the town centre on weekends during afternoons and evenings, focusing on connecting with young people and improving community safety.
Being an active presence in the community can help to de-escalate anti-social behaviour and reduce instances of petty crime such as vandalism.
Volunteers also offer hospitality to those who are homeless, providing warm meals and where required can even arrange overnight accommodation.
With the demand for servicing increasing post-covid lockdowns, the organisation decided to pool resources with other Fife-based Street Pastor volunteers and decided to amalgamate with teams in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy.
The new Fife Street Pastors SCIO allows the teams to reduce overhead costs, such as insurance and uniforms, and ensure that more funding can be channelled into directly benefitting local residents.
Impact and outcomes
The group’s continued presence in the town centre over many years has allowed them to build trust and form relationships. These opportunities to provide short-term help or simple conversation can have profound impacts on individuals, even years later.
We had a man who came to us 5 years after being helped to say that he had managed to turn his life around after chatting to us about life skills, choices we make, and how we can improve our way of life. We helped one man who had been involved in a fight. We suspected a fractured skull, but he was not keen to go to hospital. We got an ambulance to take him to A&E. 1 year later he came to thank us. He had been in intensive care with a severe fracture and might not have survived if we had allowed him to walk away from the fight. We have helped many people and never hear the end of the story.