Alan

Alan volunteered for our Winter Watch project in the late 1990s. Following 21 years working for a printing company, he became our Street Life Project Worker in 2000, supporting rough sleepers and other homeless people to access suitable accommodation. Alan oversees our weekly Street Life Housing Drop In and works closely with the housing department and a range of housing providers to secure appropriate housing for clients with complex and enduring issues.

Gaynor

Gaynor became a Christian in 1986 and joined St Peter’s Church on  Church Road with her husband, Alan, and their 2 children.

Gaynor felt that she was being given the scripture Isaiah 61 and that she had a calling and a passion to help people, but wondered how this would happen. Then in 1991-2 she and her family became good friends with Chris, Dave and Samuel Bagley, who had shared with them their vision for Urban Outreach and Gaynor shared what she had been given.

She first started working in the office at Urban Outreach in 1994, on a project called Bedline, 3 mornings a week. In 1996 Urban Outreach were asked, by the council, to do a questionnaire about homelessness in the town centre, the results of this led to the establishment of the Winter Watch project which was launched in 1997/8. In1999, we received funding for the project, and Gaynor had the privilege of becoming the Winter Watch Co-ordinator, which she ran and developed until 2006.

Gaynor then moved on to work as a Community Support Officer for 3 years, but still volunteered with the Reach Out Project. Then in 2009 she felt the call to come back to Urban Outreach and ran the Winter Watch project again and has been here ever since!

Along with Winter Watch she’s had several jobs within Urban Outreach such as on Eve’s space, Christmas Dinner on Jesus, Storehouse, Local Welfare Provision, Bolton Lunches and Friends of Fun Food. At present she supports the adult team as an administrator, working especially with the Street Life project, along with Alan.

Gaynor feels that it has been a privilege to serve the Lord in Urban Outreach along with Chris & Dave and the team over the years. She has had the pleasure of witnessing many people’s lives set free and changed for the better and feels that God is the God of the impossible!

Ian

Ian joined Urban Outreach early in 2019 to work with Bolton Homeless Alliance, with the aim to set up and coordinate the running of a Homeless Night Shelter. Previously he worked for a local electrical/ building company where he was Operations Manager for ten years. Over recent years Ian has helped set up and run a foodbank and a night shelter in Atherton where he was the Project Manager and Trustee. He has a deep concern for those who find themselves homeless. His aim is to ensure there is always a safe haven they can turn to – one that is supportive and builds self-esteem while more permanent housing is being arranged.