In a bustling community centre in Burnley, a man with a remarkable past is ensuring local children do not go cold this Christmas. Pastor Mick Fleming, 59, once a violent drug dealer living on the streets, now dedicates his life to running the Church on the Street, providing food, warmth, and vital support to thousands.
A Coat is More Than Just Warmth
On a freezing December day, Pastor Mick opens a cupboard overflowing with high-quality winter coats. He refuses to distribute what he calls "poverty coats" – identical garments that mark children out as needy. Instead, he offers a selection of branded puffa jackets and coats in various colours and sizes. "That's not just a coat, that's self-worth, that's care and compassion and community – that’s love," he explains, highlighting his mission to preserve dignity while providing practical help.
His annual Coats and Shoes (CAS) appeal provides free winter gear to hundreds of children in Burnley, where child poverty rates are among the highest in the nation. Official figures show 40% of children in the town live in poverty, nearly double the national average of 22%. For parents like Lindsay Turnmore, 48, collecting a warm jacket and boots for her eight-year-old son is a lifeline. "It's just brilliant," she says. "Everything costs so much now... It's a good feeling knowing he's going to be warm and fit in."
A Past Forged in Trauma and Crime
Pastor Mick's profound empathy stems from a life of extreme hardship. He survived childhood rape, bereavement, homelessness, and addiction, which led to severe mental health crises. To fund his crack cocaine and alcohol addiction, he became a fixer in Manchester's gangland, later turning to violent debt collection. His criminal record includes being arrested twice for murder, three times for armed robbery, and for countless firearms offences.
"I was a hard man addicted to crack and alcohol," he recalls. "Bald head, 18 stone and nuts. When you're running up and down with shooters... and you start suffering from drug-induced psychosis you become dangerous." His turning point came in 2009. After finding he couldn't shoot a man walking with his children, and following a failed suicide attempt, he experienced a spiritual awakening. He got clean, studied for ordination, and founded his own church.
Logistics of Compassion: A Foodbank Run Like a Drug Deal
With stark pragmatism, Pastor Mick applies the logistical skills he learned in the drug trade to his charitable work. "I tell you what a foodbank is, it's a drug deal," he states matter-of-factly. "It's really simple – you take the commodity, drop it off in one place, put it in bags and then you distribute it. It's logistics."
He started his ministry by simply going to the streets with sandwiches, a flask, and old clothes. "A long time ago I met Jesus in the shop doorway because I couldn't find him in the church," he says. "That's where Jesus lives... with hungry children, with the poor." Within two weeks, 80 people had gathered, forming the nucleus of the Church on the Street.
The church's work gained national attention during the pandemic, leading to a visit from the then Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, in 2022. Mick was particularly moved hearing Prince William comfort a bereaved boy, having lost his own mother, Princess Diana, as a teenager.
Today, the church is a hive of activity, offering warmth, meals, recovery programmes, and NHS treatment centres. As temperatures plummet, Pastor Mick's phone rings constantly with desperate calls. He describes one mother with two young children, with no food for dinner and fearing she may become suicidal. "People are working but the cost of living is making life very, very hard," he says. "Look at the cost of food…it's doubled but wages and benefits haven't."
In a final act of commitment, Pastor Mick recently sold all his possessions and moved into a motor home, his "church on wheels," to continue serving the vulnerable. The man whose life was spared by a blinding light as he prepared to commit murder now brings a different kind of light to one of Britain's most deprived communities, proving that redemption and hope are always possible.
