SI Wakefield had a tremendous talk at ther speaker meeting on the 27th October from Paul Blakey MBE, the founder of Street Angels. This is a project which, with the help of a team of volunteers, has made a massive difference in over one hundred towns and cities across the UK and overseas. Founded in November 2005 the scheme has seen violent crime and sexual assaults reduce dramatically in many of the communities where the projects work. The Angels now also go inside pubs and clubs, at music festivals, in communities and at train stations. Because of Paul’s contribution to community safety he was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours 2010 by Her Majesty the Quee
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His talk was full of humour and inspiration. Street Angels are always looking for volunteers and when asked how anyone could help who did not want to ‘walk the streets’ he said for example that they need anyone with computer skills, help was also needed in reuniting lost property with owners – there are so many different ways to become involved with a truly inspiring scheme.