Suffolk Town Pastors Celebration, May 2010

This page is contained within The Key website for convenience only and implies no other connection.  The page can be accessed from the website's Links page or by keying in the URL link www.thekeyipswich.co.uk\2010tpc\2010tpc.htm.

This page presents a gallery of thumbnails for aspects of the event.  Hover over each thumbnail for a brief caption and Click on a thumbnail to present a larger version of the picture.  The larger version is 1144 by 788 pixels suitable for projection and other applications benefitting from a higher resolution image; but the files are larger and may take a bit longer to download.  To copy a picture, access the larger size (do not use the thumbnail), right click and select "save picture as" and select the folder into which you wish to download it.  When the picture is displayed, if the curser shows a plus sign, left click to enlarge the image to its full size before downloading.  Use the 'Back' button to return to the thumbnails.

Venue - the event was held in the Exhibition Hall at Adastral Park, Martlesham Heath, the Hub restaurant being available for meals and refreshments

Reception and Welcome - the event commenced at 1pm with formal registration over a period of time with the VIP's joining at 3 pm.  A short introduction and welcome was presented by David Sheppard who had master minded the organisation of the event, Neil Boast, one of the founders of the Town Pastor movement, and Guy Fairweather, a Town Pastor, acted as MC for the event.

The People -  Over 250 people attended the event including Town Pastors and Prayer Partners from Ipswich, Felixstowe, Sudbury, Newmarket, Woodbridge, Lowestoft and Stowmarket and 50 invited guests including VIP,s representing local authorities and businesses.

Breakout Rooms - One of the main features of the event was a range of Breakout 'Rooms', each giving educational presentations on various subjects relevant to the work and experiences of the Town Pastors.  These included Counter Terrorism, First Aid, Domestic Violence, Drug Abuse, Mental Health and Welfare.  Some town pastor teams had stands and the Police provided stands relating to Challenging Issues, Police learning and Crime Prevention in the restaurant area.  During the afternoon there were 3 periods during which these presentations and stands could be attended; each was full on each occasion.

Presentations - Another major feature was a series of presentations portraying the work of the Town Pastors and their relationship to the community, the police and other organisations.  The session commenced with a series of Christian songs by the St John's Woodbridge worship group and Guy Fairweather provided the continuity.  Town Pastors Sheila Aldous and Terry Mann gave examples of situations they had encountered placing emphasis on the way in which the prayers of the prayer support team had supported them.  Phil Dance, CEO of Adastral Park, expressed support for the movement and how pleased they were to provide the venue and other support for the event.  The Chief Constable of Suffolk, Simon Ashe, expressed great appreciation for the prayerful support provided by the movement and the way in which the Town Pastors co-operated and worked with his officers.  The Rt Reverend Nigel Stock, Bishop of Ipswich and St Edmundsbury, expressed his total support for the movement and its value to the community; he drew attention to the tremendous benefits to the Christian community through local Churches working together on such an enterprise.  Short video messages from Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Manchester, expressed support for the movement and added the desire that similar initiatives should be taken in other parts of the country. 

Thank You's - Towards the end of the afternoon it was time to say thank you to those who had put the event together.  The Reverend Paul Daltry, Chairman of the Suffolk Town Pastors, led the expression of thanks to David Sheppard, ........ and Sarah Smith, followed by a vote of thanks to Neil Boast for his contribution.  This was concluded by singing a hymn of praise " O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder .... "

Thanksgiving Service - In conclusion everyone joined in a Thanksgiving service that provided a very fitting epilogue to the event.

The whole event was a great success, not just in presenting the role and activities of the Suffolk Town Pastors but in uniting the many Christians who took part and the Churches they represent..  As an independent observer I found it very informative, tremendously encouraging and spiritually uplifting.  Without detracting from the primary purpose of providing spiritual support to the police on the streets of Suffolk, I believe that it could be the catalyst to further unite God's people.  Please feel free to use this page to this end and to God be the Glory.

These photographs are available on disk, please contact John McNeil on 01473 250018 or e-mail cjohnmcneil@hotmail.com.