During October there were:

  • 2 Friday night patrols and 3 Saturday night patrols
  • 5 Patrols totalling 25 hours of cover involving 15 Street Pastors
  • 6 pairs of flip-flops given, 23 bottles of water and 1 space blanket
  • 350 lollies and Love Hearts given

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

  • Helped a man that had run out of money and phone battery
  • Cared for a lady who had no coat and no bag
  • Spent time helping to calm down a frustrated man
  • Gave flip-flops to some very grateful ladies

We met a man who had spent all his money and his phone battery had run down so was facing a long walk home. We plugged in our mobile power supply to boost his battery and asked some passers-by if he could share their taxi home – we’re so grateful that they were very happy to help out.

One lady had no coat or bag and was waiting outside for friends to join her. Being a cold night, the lady accepted a space blanket from us to help keep her warm. After about half an hour, a friend arrived and asked us to go in to a nearby venue to find the lady’s coat and bag. We did this and offered to walk the ladies home, however another friend came by and took them home by car.

At the end of the night we met a man, sitting on the kerb, who seemed angry and was waiting for his girlfriend to pick him up – she had gone in to a pub to find his jacket and keys. We got chatting to him and being a Scot, he was delighted to hear several Scottish accents on the Street Pastor team – he was so pleased he gave us hugs before his girlfriend took him home.

We gave flip-flops to two ladies who don’t come out often – they were delighted and asked if they could pay for them – of course the answer is always, ‘No’.

At the beginning of October, we celebrated our 10th Anniversary at the Old Mill Hall in Grove. We were joined by many friends, supporters and representatives from numerous organisations including Ascension Trust, Thames Valley Police, Wantage Town Council, Grove Parish Council, Oxfordshire County Council. Our speaker was Revd. Jonathan Aitken who commended us for our good work and challenged more people to get involved.