Paul speaks at Trolley Watch Conference10/3/2025 This week Paul was speaking at the inaugural conference for Trolley Watch. Each year an estimated million shopping trolleys are taken from supermarkets and then abandoned in communities or rivers. This causes costs to supermarkets / shoppers, environmental impacts and a shortage of trolleys for future shoppers. The event was attended by the likes of Tesco, Morrisons, B&Q, Iceland, Sainsbury's, local councils and businesses who want to work together to seek solutions. Paul spoke around Street and Festival Angels as a model of a community response to solve community issues which led to interesting breakout discussions. Paul is now in the 'Trolley Club' and will be working with this group moving forward! Paul was recently on Premier Christian Radio Inspirational Breakfast talking about stepping into spaces where Christians may generally avoid - click here to listen on the Premier website
This week marks 18 years since I went full time with Street Angels. Starting out managing and running the Halifax project and then helping other towns to replicate the model before, in 2012, moving onto a national / international role.
As with all journey's it has been a mix of blessings and challenges. At the end of the day I know that week in and week our amazing teams are out in town and city centres, or at summer festivals, helping and supporting people who are or could become vulnerable and contributing to safer and stronger communities. That makes the pain and challenges worth it. Did I think I would still be involved 18 years down the road - honestly no! Did I think the model and concept of Street Angels would still be growing 18 years on - honestly no! Sometimes we set off on journey's not knowing where we are heading. I believe I am still not at the final destination and maybe the life, vision and work of Angels (street and festival variety) will become someone else's journey not mine. As I, and our network, look forward to celebrating 20 years of Street Angels in a few months time I am thankful and humbled to have played a part in bringing change to our nation. Together (those who are or have been part of each team, those who give, those who pray, those who celebrate with us, those who keep in touch) we have created a movement that has impacted and changed the lives of millions of people and helped reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in town and city centres. Running a non-profit organisation in itself is a challenge. I remember the months when I worked for a salary of £200 as the finances didn't exist and even now I am just about at the salary of the job I left 18 years ago! However, by the grace and goodness of God, and those who have invested into this incredible initiative, it always works out. 18 years full time for me and 20 years of Street Angels - here's to the next chapter of the journey! A few thoughts on Festival Angels8/11/2025 Every year the UK hosts just short of a thousand festivals. Of these five hundred are music festivals. The UK festival sector is a global leader, contributing £1.75 billion to the UK economy annually and supporting eight five thousand jobs. Annual attendance at festivals is around six and a half million people. In short, the UK festival scene is significant! Over the last fourteen years a growing number of Christian organisations have realised the potential for working alongside festival organisers to support these events, the staff and festival goers. Leading the way is Festival Angels! Since 2011 we have pioneered and gone above and beyond in our offer to festivals. We have teams, or have supported teams, to attend some of the UKs biggest festivals including Leeds, Parklife, Kendal Calling, Download, Creamfields and Latitude. Festival Angels are there to support the welfare of the festival goers and staff. Through practical ways such as safe hubs, lost property, detached teams (who are out and about across the festival site) and at Leeds a prayer cafe, we demonstrate, and show through banners, Gospels and tattoos, that Jesus Loves Festivals. Festival Angels has become a family of change makers who support one another, those attending and those working. Festival Angels offer a network of support and connection for groups such as Download Chaplains, Latitude Festival Pastors and the Methodist Church who are also working within the festival scene. Paul Blakey MBE, who heads up many of the Festival Angels teams, comments, "With the recent talk and research around a 'Quiet Revival' we have seen this evidenced at festivals over the last few years. "Young people queuing up for tattoos, reading and taking the Jesus Loves Festivals Gospels, asking serious questions and of course having a selfie with Jesus is commonplace. "Each year we connect with tens of thousands of people, many of them Gen Z. People often come to say thank you for the help we have given them or friends in past years or bring back the Festival Angels mug for a cuppa.  "Festival Angels are in a privileged place working and serving amazing people of all ages, for whom music festivals are a highlight of the year. At each event we are very much joining in with what Jesus is already doing away from our subcultured Christian world." New ventures for 2025 included supporting Accessibility customers at Kendal Calling with dozens of messages of thanks received on social media. In a romantic twist Festival Angels are celebrating an engagement with Jo Lynch and Bryn Wilson, who met whilst on team at Leeds Festival, becoming engaged whilst on the team under the globe at Kendal Calling.  Festival Angels are keen to support local church communities to set up teams around smaller festivals and events. Upton-upon-Severn Baptist Church and churches in Porthleven have Festival Angels teams each year which help the church connect and integrate with wider community events. With a handful of teams to run in 2025, including Leeds Festival, Darley Park Weekender, We Are Church at Creamfields and Street Pastors at Reading Festival, plans are beginning for future development. A one-off opportunity in 2027 will be the Grande Depart of one of the world's biggest sporting events. The Tour de France will be racing around Scotland, Wales and England in a three day spectacle with Festival Angels / ROC Angels joining forces with Sports Chaplaincy to speak to the organisers about how we can encourage the church and community to better engage along the routes. Festival Angels is a simple model with an aim of loving the person in front of you through practical help such as sun lotion, plasters and sanitary products. The team's proactive approach is demonstrating to festival goers and staff that Jesus really does love festivals and festival-goers. To find out more festivalangels.org.uk or @festivalangels on Facebook and TikTok and @festivalangels1 on Instagram.  Paul is the Keynote Speaker at the Further Education Tutorial Conference in Sheffield on 28th November. The FETN Annual Conference provides a unique opportunity for tutorial managers and practitioners across the sector to meet in a friendly, informal setting. Network with colleagues and sector experts, hear about the latest tutorial developments, share ideas in the pursuit of excellence and celebrate our members’ achievements. Details and booking here.
Warm Welcome7/6/2025 Through Chilli Tuesday, a free lunch, chill-out area, games and warm welcome for Calderdale College students, Paul is part of a Warm Welcome Spaces Champions group. This group is helping to grow and develop Warm Welcome Spaces of which there are over 5300 across the UK. He was in Bristol recently at an in-person gathering of champions and the Warm Welcome Spaces staff team.   PARTNERSHIP6/26/2025 Some random thoughts on what makes PARTNERSHIP...
P - People. Partnerships are about people - connecting with other people (no matter who they are representing in an official capacity) for the benefit of even more people! A - Action. Partnerships should lead to action. It is so easy for partnerships to become a talking shop or we meet for the sake of meeting. Strategic partnerships should ideally have action and outcomes and we need to be accountable to one another to fulfill those actions. R - Renewal. Partnerships should bring renewal. Renewal for those involved and renewal for those the partnerships seek to serve and reach. T - Table. Partnerships are essentially an invitation to the table - and a table with food adds a special dynamic. Jesus carried out a lot of his ministry at tables around food (and not always with the type of people we would expect!). Basing partnershi[p around tables and especially tables with food is good! Sometimes there is a need to build a bigger table. N - Network. Partnerships should be strategical and a dynamic, life giving, life changing network (network: 'a group of interconnected people'). E - Edify. Partnerships should be about building one another up. We are not in competition with one another - encourage one another and celebrate one another. R - Refresh. Partnerships should bring a refreshing. They should equip us to carry on doing what we are doing and to do what we do better. Partnerships should be refreshing and energy giving, they should be a place to help and support those who are weak. If a partnership has become stale and hard work then maybe it is time for a re-look. S - Sharing. Share about one another. Share news and stories, Share social media posts. Share problems and share potential. H - Hope. Where there is unity there is a blessing. Partnerships should be about becoming and being hope for others and the communities we serve. Partnerships should be a model of hope. I - Investment. Partnerships are an investment. An investment of time, money, energy, resources. We shouldn't do partnership for what we can get out of it but what we can invest into it and into each other. P - Presence. Partnership is about presence. The University of Chester carried out an evaluation of our Birkenhead Street Angels titled 'The Power of Presence'. By showing up there is power in your presence. What you bring is unique and good partnerships ensure that all at the table have an equal voice. Paul speaking at London Event6/26/2025 |
