During June there was:

• 1 Friday night patrol and 3 Saturday night patrols
• 4 Patrols totalling 20 hours of cover involving 12 Street Pastors
• 5 pairs of flip-flops given and 19 bottles of water
• 370 lollies and Love Hearts

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

• Cleared away a box-opening craft knife
• Moved bins and traffic cones out of the road in Wantage
• Supported a recently bereaved young man

One of our teams spent much of their time in Wantage market place, chatting to people and giving lollies out. One young man we were chatting with began to tearfully tell us about the recent death of a sibling. Another man, who had not met Street Pastors before spoke about his own lapsed Jewish faith.

On seeing a group of lads come out of a Wantage venue and start throwing bins and traffic cones into the road our team approached, gave them a bit of a telling off and cleared everything out of the road.

Another team found a box-opening craft knife at the bus stop and removed it. Almost any object has the potential to be used as a weapon in the wrong hands, and so all of our teams spend time clearing away cans, bottles and other items so that they are not readily to hand should any fights break out. We also clear up broken glass whenever we find it to prevent anyone standing in it, especially if they’re not wearing shoes. We gave flip-flops to five ladies that we spotted who were not wearing shoes. They’re always very grateful for such a gift in their moment of need.

We received thanks from a parent who had found a pair of our flip-flops at home after her daughter had been out for the evening in Wantage. The mum was so grateful to know that her daughter had been cared for by us, and that we were there to support anyone in need.

Thank you to everyone that supported our stall at Grove & Wantage Extravaganza in June. Despite a day of showers, we met lots of people and raised some funds too.