Jonathan Bellamy spoke with Watchman to find out more

Watchman: Well, the common underlying principals are all biblical in the sense that, if you love your neighbour as yourself, you're not going to steal their mobile phone. We apply the principles of the Bible without to be honest, bringing in the Bible per ce - without saying, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. We just follow the love, the joy and the peace; allowing the character and nature of God to be seen in us as role models and mentors towards the young people we actually do mentor.

Jonathan: You're also involved in something called RAP Academy. Can you describe that a little bit more?

Watchman: The word RAP in all of our programmes is an abbreviation for Reaching All People. So it's Reaching All People Academy; Reaching All People Mentors. Now RAP Academy is a music and communication life skills program where the fundamental aim of that is to get the young person off the streets, build character, build self-esteem and get them back into education. Be it in employment, be it in training, get them to be functional; to begin to strengthen their stake hold within the society.

Jonathan: Fantastic. Now like we said, you've been doing this for ten years. You've just recently been appointed national mentor. Things are growing and one of the biggest tensions with a work that's growing is it needs more resource. Whether that's finance, or whether it's workers and people that actually work with it. What are the real challenges for you at the moment?

Watchman: You now what? We're constantly at this stage; you always have issues around finances to administer the work. We are constantly now looking for people who would also provide the necessary funds as well as support the programme. We're looking for volunteers. Others to listen, to say, look I want to be a RAP mentor now. In order to be a RAP mentor - you see all the men that come on the programme. We are taking women as well for next year. They also get mentored as well. Every mentor gets mentored before they actually go and mentor one of the client groups of the young people. We're saying, 'look we want you people to volunteer, and say look I want to do something with the community; I want to work with the young people. We're looking for professional people too. People who say, 'I want to be mentored, but I do have skills that perhaps I can offer as well for the RAP mentors programme. We'd like them to come on board as well to come and support what we're doing.

Jonathan: What would be the kind of age requirement to get involved with you and what about location as well? Do you have to be down in London?

Watchman: No, the good thing as well, we currently work in five boroughs in London but we do, believe it or not, have mentors as far as Belgium and Ipswich at present that are part of the programme. So you don't have to live in London because there's like thirty two to thirty three Boroughs. Our aim is to provide a RAP mentor for every young person, especially for the one's who have come to the attention of the police. Perhaps they've been caught with a knife. Now one of the things we're hoping to do and we're hoping to get this agreed, is an alternative from a prison sentence; of custodial sentences; if a young person is caught with a knife, not maybe if they've used the knife, if they're carrying a knife. We don't want to just put them in prison; we want to give them a RAP mentor. We want to give them someone who can work alongside them and show him the dangers of walking with a knife and begin to build up that young person.

Jonathan: If anybody is interested in exploring being a RAP mentor, what should they do?

Watchman: Please contact us, the website is www.rapmentors.org We have over three hundred men on board supporting the programme already which is wonderful and now we have women that are signing up. It is vast the service that we're providing, now we're talking national, we're talking the boroughs that are out there to target these young people. So the more people we can get on our books, we'll train them up; they'll get the qualification for good standard for mentoring and volunteering. So please just log on to the website. Or phone us on 0207 7330400.