Street Pastor patrols seemed to come across lots of stray shopping trolleys during August and September; returning them to their rightful owners. Our teams also cleared up a lot of litter, beer glasses and bottles around Wantage and different areas of Grove. Several different people spoke to our teams and said how much Street Pastors had helped them over the years, especially when they were younger.

One night, a young lady approached us and said that she was ‘not ok’. She had fallen out with her friends and was on her own. She had no money and her phone had no charge. We used our battery pack to charge her phone and explored options for her to catch a bus home. We stayed with her but before the bus arrived, she made up with her friends (using her newly charged phone) and went to find them.

We gave flip-flops to a lady who was struggling in high heels – she was very appreciative. We spent time chatting with and listening to lots of different people including a firefighter who was in attendance at Grenfell Tower, a young man who had had a difficult childhood as was grieving the loss of a friend and two young girls who chatted about the dangers of vaping.

Sadly, a fight broke out between a group of four teenagers (who had been drinking) and an older woman who had approached the group and spoken to them. A second woman attempted to break the fight up, but ended up getting involved. Street Pastors attended the scene and called the police. Although the fight ended before they police arrived, they were able to locate those involved.

We were very pleased to have Jim Sibbald Deputy Lieutenant for Grove join us on patrol. Jim has been one of our supporters from our launch way back in 2009 and joined one of our patrols that visits Grove.

Our very first afternoon patrol launched at the end of September. A short and peaceful start to this important aspect of our work. We hope to patrol once a month for now.