January CEO update

Throughout December our offices became storerooms for the donations of gifts from supporters, both new and old. The donations of shoe boxes, from St Barnabus Church and the supporters of Hewitt Recruitment, went down a treat. I must say thank you to the volunteers who helped serve Christmas lunch and for doing it brilliantly.

St Paul’s has now signed pledges supporting the Armed Forces Covenant. In January we were also awarded a Bronze Award in the Ministry of Defence’s Employer Recognition Scheme. This award demonstrated our armed forces friendly policies for example a guaranteed interview for all service leavers and additional leave for Reservists and Cadet Force instructors.

I have some sad news to share. Our former colleague Rosie Kirkham passed away a few weeks ago. Rosie (first image below) spoke very courageously and publicly about her life at some of our engagement events and her testimony brought many in the audience to tears. Lattery Rosie volunteered with Worcester Street Pastors putting her Christian faith into action.

Alex Koker who had been with St Paul’s for 5 years died before Christmas. Alex (pictured in image two, above) was described by many as a gentle soul and he called St Paul’s his home. He did not have many possessions, but he did love playing Assassins Creed Valhalla on his X-Box.

Having had an enforced break during the Covid pandemic we restarted our Open House mornings after two and a half years. If you wish to come along to understand more about what we do then please contact us.

Jonathan Sutton, CEO