Thursday, 17 November 2022

Autum Newsletter

Inside your Newsletter

View from the Chair
Police Federation honours retired Chaplain
From the Website
Why be a Police Officer?
Lincolnshire Police Chaplain Kirstie Clarke
Conference 2024
Training Update
Workplace adjustments for Jewish officers and staff
National Police Memorial Day

View from the Chair

The attentive of you will notice that the photo of the Chair has changed, Revd Canon Adrian Gatrill has stepped down from being the Chair of Police Chaplaincy UK and the Board have appointed Rev'd Dom Jones as the new Chair.

Dom says "I want to pay tribute to Adrian for his time in the Chair and thank him for all that he has done. I am delighted to be the new Chair and look forward to working with the board of Police Chaplaincy UK on our vision of 'bringing chaplaincy to the heart of policing'. I am grateful that Adrian will remain a board member and that we can benefit from his many years of wisdom and experience of Police Chaplaincy.

I am passionate about Police Chaplaincy and am currently the Lead Chaplain in Hampshire Constabulary, but I am also very passionate about Police Chaplaincy UK. I want to see PCUK develop to be the professional body that we need, I want PCUK to be the OneStop shop for chaplains who need training and resources and the place where police forces look for advice on all things chaplaincy. I will work tirelessly during my remaining time as an elected board member and am excited about the adventure ahead.

Please hold me in your thoughts and prayers and if you have any ideas of things, you'd like to see from Police Chaplaincy UK please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Yours

Dom

The retired chaplain who has dedicated the last 30 years to supporting police officers

After spending three years studying to be a minister at Bible College, John Butcher never thought life would lead him into chaplaincy with the Force. Here we are, 30 years after he first started working with the police, John, now retired, looks back at his captivating career, which saw him successfully grow the West Midlands chaplaincy team from just four to more than 150 volunteers across the region.

“Well, my story started when I was in Hackney,” 66-year-old John began.

“I’d trained as a minister and moved down to London, with Hackney being my first church. The community had gang-related problems that included drug crime and multicultural issues. It was in the period of the Gulf War, and the police wanted there to be calmness in the area, so they got in touch with me and other people of different faiths, in hope that we would begin to work together to tackle some of the problems.”

Having been contacted by the Met Police, John started venturing out with officers on a couple of shifts. However, never did he imagine that a ‘little visit out with the police’ would lead to him volunteering and working with the police service for the next three decades.
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From the Website

Chaplains support Op London Bridge

Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney, National Police Chiefs Council Lead for Police Chaplaincy to leave

Chaplains Support Commonwealth Games

Trust appeals for help to shape new police memorial

Chapel Dedicated to Emergency Services

Why be a Police Officer?

A personal reflection by Graham Choldcroft, Assistant Lead Chaplain, Thames Valley Police

The late John Hopkins, playwright and screen writer of over 90 episodes of Z Cars, once posed the question 'Why be a policeman?'

'They confront the full range of darkness.'' he wrote. 'Their life is a constant confrontation with horror. We ask from them a commitment to our safety and livelihood, and we say, "you will do that for us, it all comes with the territory of being a policeman," but we don't pay them the respect of understanding what a cost it is to them, how much in terms of ordinary life they sacrifice to be our guardians.'