Paul Blakey MBE – Paul is married to Jean and based in Halifax, West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. Paul was awarded the MBE (Most Excellent Member of the British Empire) by Her Majesty the Queen in the 2010 New Years Honours for ‘his contribution to community safety in Calderdale’.
INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER
Paul is an International Speaker and Communicator who has spoken to over 45,000 people over the last decade. He regularly shares the story of Street Angels, Club Angels and Festival Angels to ladies groups, church groups, after-dinner, Rotary clubs, etc and is also able to deliver motivational talks within a church setting or within a workshop context. As a keynote speaker Paul will use experiences as the founder of an international charity to motivate, challenge, entertain and inform.
Paul is also able to deliver talks online via Zoom including Q&A – see here for his Street/Club/Festival Angels talk .
Paul is also available to help church, community groups and local statutory agencies to explore new ways of meeting local needs. Paul is a popular preacher within church settings and at events sharing the message of Jesus and the Christian faith.
COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION ENABLER, VISIONARY & PIONEER
Paul is someone who believes that faith needs to be bringing about positive change. He is the founder / co-founder of: Street Angels; CNI Network ; Love Your Streets #Do1NiceThing ; #FaithAndPoliceTogether ; the4Ps ; and Jesus Loves Yorkshire .
Paul and his wife Jean had the vision for what became Street Angels which started in Halifax in November 2005. Street Angels, with the help of an amazing team of volunteers, has made a massive difference in Halifax and over one hundred and thirty towns and cities across the UK and beyond. Street Angels has contributed to a reduction in violent crime and sexual assaults in many of the towns where the scheme operates and has contributed to a national annual reduction in alcohol related violence and A&E admissions.
Paul set up Love Your Streets and #Do1NiceThing as a way of promoting community social action. Paul is one of those involved in Festival Angels who work at Big Church Day Out, Boardmasters, Kendal Calling, Leeds and other festivals so spends a lot of summers in a field heading up detached teams! In 2017 Paul co-founded #FaithAndPoliceTogether a way of celebrating, promoting and encouraging faith communities to work with the police on policing priorities – this launch event was held in the Houses of Parliament. Paul has a heart to seek the peace and prosperity of places and to support and encourage others in this and set up the4Ps as a vehicle to promote Praying for the Peace and Prosperity of Places. Paul is involved in the Jesus Loves Yorkshire, a trendy marketing campaign which plans to help churches across Yorkshire share this amazing message around the Tour de Yorkshire events. Paul is chair of trustees of Christians in Calderdale Schools (CICS), an Associate for Faith In Society and a Trustee for ROC (Redeeming Our Communities).
Paul loves to work with church communities and others towards seeing community transformation and is a pioneer and visionary who sees fresh ways of working towards demonstrating the Kingdom of God as a reality for people and society – contact Paul for an informal chat.
BROADCASTER
Paul has an interest in the media and sees that as Christians we should be making the news not just watching the news! He features regularly on BBC, Premier Radio, UCB and has a portfolio of TV, radio and newspaper interviews.
Paul is regularly found on social media (find Paul on: Facebook / Twitter and Instagram ) and can deliver training and support to help organisations and businesses to get the most from this.
Paul has hosted interviews on behalf of his church “Coffee and Chat” and chats around the peace and prosperity of places for the4Ps. Paul regularly posts videos on a wide variety of subjects on Facebook and YouTube. Paul shares posts and videos on his Blog .
AUTHOR
Paul is an author and has written the book “Street Angels – the amazing story from binge to better” which has sold over 3500 copies. Paul has also written articles for various magazines and publications.
Paul’s wife Jean is also an author and has written a children’s story “Cluck Cluck Duck ” which is available as a paperback. Jean has written a faith story aimed at adults “Under The Surface “.
CONNECTOR
Paul is a connector and networker and has links with people and Christian ministries around the world. He is a great believer in partnership and believes we need to work together in unity in as many dynamic ways as possible. Key friends include: Dario Martini (Brasil / Italy); Sarah and Mary Leonard (Ricky Leonard Ministries, USA); Emma Baltezore and One Christian Network Wilmington; Lee Russell and Christian Police Association UK; Debra Green OBE and Redeeming Our Communities; and the Big Church Day Out team. Paul and Jean are members of Kings Church Halifax and have links with church communities and Christian organisations across the UK and in several countries overseas.
Paul is one of thirty three assessors for the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services.
