All Through the Night Songs of Praise


All Through the Night

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Waterloo Bridge at sunset. It has some of the best views in London.

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MUSIC: "Waterloo Sunset" by The Kinks

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And today's Songs Of Praise is all about the things that happen

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after the sun's gone down, and I'll be staying up all night,

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meeting the people who work whilst most of us are fast asleep.

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There are the Street Angels watching over Bedford's clubbers,

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the chaplains helping truck drivers through the night.

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I'll also be travelling down the Thames to find out why

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the river has never been safer, and we'll have inspiring hymns

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and performances with a night-time theme.

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Once night has fallen, most of us look forward

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to snuggling up in warm, cosy beds.

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But for many, the day is just beginning.

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In fact, it's reckoned that over four million of us

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work anti-social hours.

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Leisure, health, transport, manufacturing -

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all depend on night-time workers to keep going.

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Without night-time workers,

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a lot of these services would just grind to a halt.

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Now, our first hymn today on Songs Of Praise is usually

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sung at the end of the programme,

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but today it seems appropriate to have it at the beginning.

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The last shoppers have headed home

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and the streets are filling up with people looking for fun.

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The police will be working through the night to prevent crime

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and in many towns and cities,

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Christian volunteers will be on the streets mingling with

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the clubbers, keeping an eye out for anybody who needs help.

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They are called Street Angels.

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I went to Bedford on a typical Saturday night to find out

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how a tragedy was the catalyst to forming the Bedford Street Angels.

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Robert Gill was just 17 when he said goodnight to his parents

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and headed into Bedford town centre for a night out with friends.

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We weren't expecting him back until the next day.

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He was with people we trusted

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and they ended up going to a club in Bedford.

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In the club they got separated and Robert was sick without

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the support of a friend there and got asked to leave the club.

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And the people he was with waited outside, looking for him

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till three o'clock in the morning.

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But he'd been taken by three youths

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and we saw on CCTV eventually that they walked him through

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the town to the ATMs and they eventually went out of sight

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at one of the Bedford bridges

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and he was found in the river...

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-..nearly a week...

-Nearly a week later.

-Nearly a week later.

-Yes.

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Your child dying is a worst-case scenario

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and then to know that actually, somebody else took their life...

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-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-That's beyond your worst nightmare.

-Mm.

-Yes.

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As Christians, we're told that we should forgive.

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Is it actually possible to do that in a situation like this?

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I just knew - we knew - that we had to forgive

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and we took that stand right from the start and somehow,

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God has given us the strength and the grace to stand by that.

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There is nothing that we could be angry about and do to them

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that would be worse than what they had done to themselves, in a sense.

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Has there been anything redeeming about this situation?

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Er, Street Angels starting in Bedford.

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There had already been people looking into whether

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something could be done in the town centre because there were problems.

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What had happened to Robert - that kind of galvanised things

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and fairly soon afterwards, the decision was made to

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go for Street Angels as an organisation and we were invited to

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become part of that and we were part of that from the very early stages.

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What we do specifically is to be out on the streets of Bedford

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on Saturday nights and we're there for people who have become

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vulnerable through drinking too much.

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We're there to support them and help them and help them to keep safe.

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Sometimes it's just as simple as somebody needing a drink of water.

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They become dehydrated through drinking too much.

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Sometimes, the ladies have had too much of their high heels

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and can't manage on them any more,

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so we carry flip-flops around with us and we give those out to people.

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Just, you know, we look out to keep people safe and to help them

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in whatever way we can.

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-So we're in the high street.

-Yes.

-I'm itching to sort of find out what you do.

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Where do you go? What do we do first?

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We'll go up the high street and see if there's anybody who

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-needs our help and just see what's happening in the town.

-All right.

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-So lead the way and I'll follow you.

-Yes.

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If somebody is in a state that they can't get a taxi home,

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we'll wait with them until they are able to get a taxi

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and just make sure they do get home safely.

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We have a very good working relationship with the police. They're brilliant.

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They'll call us if they see somebody who needs help and we'll go

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and be with them for as long as needed.

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There's been a couple of times when it's been a vulnerable person

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along the streets that we know Robert went along

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and we know that there's one, nothing can happen to you

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because we're out on the streets.

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So she's got somebody who is in distress?

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Yes, she's telling us that there's somebody down here that needs help.

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-The thing that we can do is mention it to CCTV.

-Right.

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And they can observe.

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Well, what we're seeing at the moment is typically

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what the Street Angels have to deal with on a Saturday evening.

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We were just sort of talking in the crowd with some of the revellers

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and a young lady came up to us

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and told us that we had to come down this lane

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because one of the guys in her group,

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he's actually had too much to drink.

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He's come out of the club

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and he's just passed out on the side of the street.

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We don't know quite how serious it is at the moment but it seems

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as if it's not really a great situation

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so we're just sort of standing back,

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letting the Street Angels do what they do best,

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and also, you know, praying that everything actually works out.

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They are probably the only people

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that will actually stop to help rather than...

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If public were just walking past, they'll just be,

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"It's just another drunk on the road." They'll just carry on walking

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-rather than actually stopping and being like, "Are you OK?"

-Yeah.

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-Exactly.

-Which is what you need.

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Thankfully, he's fine now.

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I don't quite know what I expected

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when I came out on the streets with the Angels tonight.

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I certainly didn't expect it to be quite so active.

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They engage with people on so many levels.

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As we can see just over here, you know, even if it's just talking to people

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and making friends with them and for me, it's just a really

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beautiful way of seeing God's love literally in action.

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# Glory to thee my God this night

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# For all the blessings of the light

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# Keep me, O keep me, King of Kings

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# Beneath thine own almighty wings

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# Praise God from whom all blessings flow

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# Praise Him all creatures here below

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# Praise Him above angelic host

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# Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost

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# Praise God from whom all blessings flow

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# Praise Him all creatures here below

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# Praise Him above angelic host

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# Praise Him above angelic host

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# Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost

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# Amen. #

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Without ships and seafarers,

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Christianity would never have reached the shores of Britain.

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'And rivers like the Thames acted as highways as the word spread inland.

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'Today, the Thames is one of the world's busiest waterways

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'and shipping is managed by the Port of London Authority.

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'Kevin Gregory went to sea at the age of 16

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'and now he's the man responsible for making sure the river runs

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'safely and efficiently day and night.'

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Kevin, I love being on this boat at night.

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I mean, this feels really, like, romantic to me

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but there's a serious side to this, isn't there?

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Why have the boats on the river?

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Yeah, I mean the River Thames is much bigger than people think.

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It's an area of over 600 square miles of waterway and we're here to make

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sure that everyone's safe 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

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Millions of commuters and passengers a year use the river,

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even on an evening time such as this we've still got commuters

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going home, people coming out for receptions and parties on the river

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and we're here to keep them safe and secure wherever they want to go.

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But for the partygoers and people who are travelling

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surely around midnight or 1am, that will stop. What happens after that?

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It's natural to say that the parties stop and the commuters go home

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but the river is still very busy.

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People sometimes don't realise how reliant Londoners are

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on the River Thames.

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Most of London's rubbish and garbage

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and waste leaves the city centre via river.

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All the boats need to be fuelled overnight and also most of London's

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imports come by the River Thames as well into the major docks

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in the estuary at Tilbury and in South Essex,

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so the river's busy 24 hours a day.

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Now, there are certain hymns that are really associated with

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seafarers and the sea. Do you have a favourite?

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I think the hymn that most seafarers and their families relate to

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a lot is Eternal Father, Strong To Save and I think it's a real

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classic for seafarers and one which they and their families appreciate.

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So, Kevin, we're standing here on the Thames Barrier just

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outside your control room. What exactly is it that you do?

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Well, inside the control room is very similar to air traffic control

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but for ships. We're here to ensure that all the vessels

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navigating on the River Thames can navigate safely

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and efficiently to wherever they want to go.

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I think my faith is very important.

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Although subtle in its place at work, I think it does help

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in managing a large and diverse team

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'like we have in the port.'

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'It makes me very conscious of the personal stresses

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'and strains that shift work would bring, particularly when working

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'overnight and being separated from your friends and families.'

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Also working at key times of the year such as Christmas and Easter,

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or when, as happens, staff become ill, it really does help complement

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'the professional side of the job in my personal dealings with the team.'

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If you look around your room now, virtually everything you see

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will have probably at some point travelled through

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the night on the back of a lorry.

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But every trucker needs to take a break.

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And while the truckstop cafe can take care of the food,

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Glory Road wants to take care of truckers' spiritual nourishment.

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The ministry has a network of volunteers on call,

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day and night, whatever the need.

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They're OK with the driving, that's not a problem,

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but when they're alone,

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especially at night, you know, when there's no-one else around,

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the mind can take over and, you know,

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if they're suffering from depression or anything like that,

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'or they've got a problem at home, relationship problems,

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'that can really be bad for them and it's that time

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'when they need someone to be on the end of a phone for them

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'so they've got someone to call when no-one else is around.'

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An awful lot of ex-servicemen come into the driving industry

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and just recently we've been helping, over the last three and a half years,

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a Royal Marine called Karl. He phoned up

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and he said, "Look, I'm not interested in all the God stuff

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"but can you help me? I'm in a mess." I said, "Of course I can."

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And for the last three and a half years I've been helping him

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get over the effects of PTSD, you know, from the first Gulf War

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and Afghanistan and things like that.

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The main problem was

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the death of two of my mates,

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that I witnessed, that was the major problem.

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But because of that one incident, I was very aggressive.

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The aggression just built up inside me.

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I wouldn't talk.

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If anyone looked at me the wrong way,

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I wasn't a nice person to be around.

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And that led to family not wanting me around,

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friends - losing a lot of friends,

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couldn't hold a relationship,

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it was a lonely time.

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You know, Chris being an ex-truck driver,

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he knew what we were going through.

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So I came to a point in my life where I thought,

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-it is time

-I

-did something to change.

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I am 46 now and it has taken me a long time to realise

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you cannot say nothing. You have got to talk.

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It's the only way you will unload

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what you've built up over the years.

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'And with his help, Chris, and Debbie, my wife,'

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which I never thought would happen but it did, I like myself now.

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Before, I didn't.

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And that is what we'd like to do for more people like him.

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We want them to know that we won't judge them.

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We don't have a right to judge them.

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We are here to love them as Christ loved them unconditionally.

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# Love fear not, though sad thy dreaming

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# All through the night

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# Though o'ercast bright stars are gleaming

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# All through the night

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# Joy will come to thee at morning

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# Life with sunny hopes adorning

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# Though sad dreams may give dark warning

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# All through the night

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# Angels watching close around thee

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# All through the night

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# In thy slumbers close surround thee

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# All through the night

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# They will of all fear disarm thee

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# No forebodings should alarm thee

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# They will let no peril harm thee

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# All through the night. #

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Heavenly Father, bless those who work nights,

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and help us to feel your love guiding us through the darkness.

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Grant us the strength to protect the vulnerable

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and through your love to forgive those who cause us harm.

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We thank you that you accept us where we are

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but you don't leave us there.

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Weeping may endure for a night, but your joy comes in the morning.

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Amen.

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It's nearly 4 o'clock in the morning

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and the streets are beginning to quieten down.

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Soon, the sun will be rising and many of us will be

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getting up ready to face a brand-new day.

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Now for exciting news of our next gospel choir competition.

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After the phenomenal success last year,

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we're going to do it all over again.

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If you'd like your gospel choir to be seen and heard,

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then go to our website where you will find all the details you need.

0:33:390:33:41

You never know, it could be your choir lifting the trophy.

0:33:410:33:46

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