During October there were:

• 3 Friday night patrols
• 3 Saturday night patrols
• 6 Patrols totalling 30 hours of cover involving 19 Street Pastors
• 18 pairs of flip-flops given, 300 lollies and Love Hearts and 3 space blankets

Here are some of the ways Street Pastors cared, listened and helped in October:

• Spent time with several groups of young people
• Helped a lady to contact her 16 year old son
• Supported lots of young ladies with pairs of flip-flops

We spent quite a bit of time talking to groups of young people. One group of around 18 youths in Grove was just bored and appreciated lollies and a chat. As we left, the group dispersed. Another, smaller group had come from a nearby village to Wantage for a night out.

One of our teams met a lady in a car who was nearly out of petrol and needed to contact her son urgently – however, her mobile phone battery was dead. Our teams carry a mobile power supply for just such an occasion, which allowed the lady to make a call and arrange to meet her son.

Halloween is a big event in Wantage with lots of revellers dressing up in ghoulish costume. Although dressed in our regular uniform we were there to care, listen and help as always with plenty of flip-flops for ladies whose footwear choices were not as wise as they were pretty!

Wantage & Grove Street Pastors has been recognised as a CAP Ambassador by Community Alcohol Partnerships for our work with the Wantage & Grove CAP. We work alongside local organisations and businesses to help reduce underage drinking and associated problems in Wantage and Grove. The Wantage & Grove CAP is assessing the effectiveness of its work to date and, if you live locally, you can help us by filling in our Resident’s Survey online at: http://survey.southandvale.gov.uk/s/CAPResidents