We patrolled eight times during February and March 2022.
We are pleased to report that many of our patrols were peaceful, perhaps helped by cold and wet weather. Unfortunately, we were unable to patrol at the end of March due to heavy rain and localised flooding.
One of our nighttime venues in Wantage was evacuated to allow emergency services to attend to a lady who had had a medical emergency. Street Pastors chatted to those who had been evacuated, gave out lots of lollies and bottles of water and generally helped to keep everyone calm while they waited to be let back in and continue with their evening.
We met a man who seemed a bit wobbly and asked if he was ok. He said that he had lost his keys but that he didn’t need any help and that he was going to lie on a bench for a while. We gave him a bottle of water and a space blanket to help keep him warm and checked in on him later in the evening.
One night we spent some time with a young woman who explained how she was sleeping on a friend’s sofa having escaped an abusive relationship. We listened to her and signposted her to an organisation that may be able to help her further.
Street Pastors met a young lady who had had too much to drink and so we gently suggested it would be good to make her way home and we offered to go some of the way with her. We also helped a young man who tripped and fell, dropping his bag and wallet as he made his way home at the end of the night. We picked up his things, gave him some water and a lolly and checked that he was ok to go the rest of the way on his own.