John 'Nobby' Clarke - October winner
John ‘Nobby’ Clarke has been instrumental in the setting up and operation of the Coventry winter night shelter, which has been organised under the ‘Hope Coventry’ churches banner. He has worked extremely hard from taking on the Project Co-ordinator role on 13th December 2013 to the first night of opening the shelter on 18th January 2014, and of course over the weeks that followed. The night shelter could not have been set up without the phenomenal efforts and enthusiasm of Nobby in co-ordinating and organising the project and getting everything off the ground; the night shelter ran until the 31st March 2014.
Nobby has worked with the venues and volunteers to provide an atmosphere of safety, welcome and hospitality ensuring that people connected with people; gradually building confidence and developing trusting relationships. Nobby has ensured that lives of vulnerable people have been positively affected through the simple act of generous hospitality shown to them along with genuine love and care.
As part of this project Nobby has co-ordinated 7 different churches and over 450 volunteers in order to provide a shelter for up to 20 rough sleepers, with a different church providing shelter on each day of the week. A hot evening meal was provided at each venue by a variety of volunteers, including Sikh and Muslim groups. Ninety individual guests have been registered over the period that the night shelter ran, with up to 22 staying on any one night. Over 1000 bed nights were provided and 25 people have been supported to access more permanent accommodation.
Nobby is truly an inspiration to us all and richly deserves the Coventry Good Citizen award.