Town’s pastors a long-term fixture

The Echo spoke with the people involved in the new initiative which is already helping some residents who flock to the AGP Arena every week to support the club.

The new campaign, introduced at the beginning of the football season, involves pastors, Gary Bott, 44, and Phil Norton, 53, alongside four others involved in the churches and schools ministry in Billericay attending home games to speak with people who want to talk about personal issues they are struggling with.

Working in the group will be representatives from churches and teams across Billericay; including Karen Tullett, Bruce Bott, Tom Madders and Dan Pierce.

Mr Bott, chairman of Schools Ministry Billericay and church leader at Billericay Baptist Church in Perry Street has been a driving force behind the initiative since he tweeted the football club’s owner, Glenn Tamplin about the idea.

He said: “It all started when I heard a little bit about Glenn’s story about having had some mental health issues.

“We told him there are a number of people who struggle with these things and how it would be great to have him supporting it.

“The initial contact was made a long while ago and we met with Glenn to talk about it and the idea of people at home games having the chance to speak as pastors.”

Although they are pastors in name, the group are not connected to the Billericay and Basildon street pastor scheme that has been a presence on the towns’ streets for the last few years. Mr Bott added: “We are a separate organisation from the street pastors.

“We have all had training in child protection and counselling so we can make sure we have people who know what they are doing.”

Mr Norton, the Basildon street pastor co-ordinator, is proud the initiative has become a fixture inside the Arena in Billericay.

He said: “It is a very exciting opportunity for the churches to get involved in the club and offer something a bit different as well.

“In big football clubs, chaplains do offer services but we have decided to go for a pastoral approach where six of us see and speak with people.”

Mr Norton has been positive about having the influence and inclusion of Billericay’s owner, Mr Tamplin, who is planning to drive Billericay into the Football League within the next five years.

He said: “Some of his vision and the plans in place are quite expansive, and we would love to have a home at the club to do some planning and let people know where they can find us during the day and in the evening.

“Glenn has his own experiences that he can draw on and we have our knowledge of Billericay and what happens here.

“We just want to build a community service and help people in Billericay.

“We are in this for the long run.”

Mr Bott said that in order to achieve this, there are discussions being had about a hut being built in or near to the ground in Blunts Wall Road.

He said: “We do not know where it would be, whether over on the training pitch but it could mean we have somewhere we can work so that we can help the first team, the women’s team, the Colts and everyone else involved in the club.

“It is going to take time, though.”

The initiative will be used for people of all ages, encouraging them to talk about their issues in a controlled and very discreet way.

Mr Norton reassured fans of the club and people who may need someone to talk to that the pastors will not be using their role at the club to “preach”.

He said: “We are not there to preach or evangelise, we do not want people to think they are bad people for feeling a certain way.

“A lot of it is just offering support and conversational support.

“If we feel someone needs help with issues of drugs or alcohol, they will be signposted by us and referred to someone who can give them that care.

“If we feel someone needs help from us in a pastoral sense then we will make sure we can give them that too.”

The pastoral team intends to start travelling with the club to away games in the future once they have settled in.