During April there were:
- 2 Friday night patrols and 2 Saturday night patrols
- 4 Patrols totalling 20 hours of cover involving 12 Street Pastors
- 1 pair of flip-flops given, 3 bottles of water and 1 space blanket
- 200 lollies and Love Hearts
Here are some of the ways Street Pastors cared, listened and helped in April:
- Cleared a large amount of litter in Grove Skate Park
- Cleared broken glass in Wantage town centre
- Spent time with a lad who innocently suffered some ‘horseplay’
- Assisted a lady who was having a panic attack
Two of our teams visit Grove each month touring several areas by car and walking around the Skate Park and Mary Green Park. It’s usually fairly quiet as it was in April, however the team cleared up lots of litter at Grove Skate Park.
One of our teams heard the sound of breaking glass in Wantage Market Place and went to investigate. By the time they arrived there was nothing to see except a pile of broken glass, which they dutifully cleared up with a dustpan and brush.
Following a very pleasant evening, taunting amongst a group of young people resulted in scuffles and fights in the early hours. The police arrested one lad but his female friend started to hyperventilate, have a panic attack and collapse. We assisted her partner in caring for her while she recovered, giving a space blanket to keep her warm.
On another occasion we witnessed one young man be put in a headlock by another young man and jumped on when he tried to escape. It was all over as soon as it started and both the young man and our team were left bemused as to what and why! The assailant ran off down the road, removing his shirt to be joined by another shirtless young man who then began sparring with each other. No one was injured by this horseplay and we chatted to the ‘victim’ for a while. This is the kind of situation that can so easily escalate to something more aggressive.