We patrolled eight times during December 2022 and January 2023. We patrolled on ‘Black Friday’, the last Friday before Christmas, which we are pleased to say passed without major incident. Unfortunately, we were unable to patrol on New Year’s Eve.
Street Pastors braved some cold and icy weather in December and January and were available to respond to a couple of incidents between individuals that were turning aggressive. Often just being present helps to keep things calm and prevent escalation.
We cleared up lots of litter, including glasses that had made their way on to the streets and we swept up broken glass on several occasions. We chatted to lots of different people – one night we spent some time chatting to a lady while she waited for a lift home. Another night we helped a couple of ladies who were having some difficulty walking home and spent quite a bit of time chatting with a couple who were concerned for a family member.
Patrols in early January were fairly quiet, as we would expect, but by the end of the month things were generally busier in Wantage.
In January we appointed Sky Shoemark as an Online Networker to help us with social media. As well as following our Facebook page, you can now follow us on Instagram and TikTok.