St Mary Redcliffe Church Parish Magazine, February 2019

Sarah is jointly coordinating this year’s BCWNS accommodation for SMR
at Faithspace; she writes —
Geoffrey Robinson —
HAPPY NEW YEAH
poetry
corner
Friday 11 January saw our first session of Bristol Churches
Winter Night Shelter in Redcliffe. We’re running for 6 weeks
every Friday night to Saturday morning. We can accommodate
up to 12 guests, all of whom have been referred to the BCWNS Project
by St Mungo’s — the men stay at other churches on different nights
of the week, and each Friday they come to us at Faithspace.
Ring out the old,
Ring in the new —
Bring out your dead,
Admire the new.
What is forthcoming,
No-one can now,
Just keep on living,
Wait for the blow.
In total we’ve 35 volunteers on our list. We have 10 people to help
each evening: making up the beds, setting the table, laying out
the clothes that have been donated. Each week a team of 2 cooks
a meal, which the guests and volunteers eat together. If the men
wish, the volunteers will chat or play board or card games after the
meal. Four people arrive at 9.30pm for the overnight shift (2 awake
and 2 asleep in turn all night) and then 6 volunteers arrive just
before 7am to make the breakfast, take off the bedding and generally
clear up. Four people are responsible for doing the laundry.
The start of Phase 1 has
gone very smoothly. We
have a lovely group of
guests who really
appreciate the comfort
of a hot meal and a warm
place to stay. They are
starting to form friendships
with each other and
it has been a lovely
atmosphere every night
so far.
The team spirit amongst the volunteers
has been great and everyone’s worked
really hard to give the guests a good
experience. We had 10 men staying the
first week and 11 men the second week,
all happy to be with us and many happy
to chat with the volunteers. Thanks to
everyone who has worked so hard to make
this happen again in Redcliffe — see
the messages opposite from some of
our coordinators and the feedback below
from one of our volunteers:
Thanks to all who helped
out at our second night.
Another successful night,
peaceful and relaxed
... another lovely meal,
some card playing in
the evening and plenty
of banter. Have a great
weekend!
Enjoyed seeing everyone last
night and talking to all our
guests. A great night. Looking
forward to the next one. PERFECT!
Sarah Yates, Joint Co-ordinator
Page 31: image taken from Peter Morgan’s photo for
the cover of the October 2018 magazine; with thanks
Sieze the day,
Beware of the dog,
Caveat emptor,
Go the whole hog.
Best wishes
— for 2019 —
Geoffrey
Live life to the full,
Look death in the face,
Rely on God’s mercy,
His love and His grace.