It won’t surprise you to know that April’s patrols were cold and wet. However, May’s patrols were mostly dry and mild – that may come as a surprise!

In April, Street Pastors met an older man who found himself homeless in Wantage. Being a really cold night, we provided him with a hat, a pair of gloves and a pair of socks. We also made him a hot drink and gave him a blanket for the night. We were able to signpost to organisations that may be able to help him. However, there is no provision for emergency accommodation in Wantage or Grove and so he faced a cold night on the streets.

On one occasion our team attended to a small group of people, two of whom were lying on the ground. We checked that they were ok. While we were there, one of the ladies became unwell having had too much to drink. We stayed with them for some time and when we were sure they would be ok, we helped them get a taxi to take them home.

Street Pastors helped to bring calm to a situation that had escalated and had resulted in the arrest of a fairly aggressive person. We were able to chat to their friends and bring some calm to the situation. The group were grateful to be able to share what had happened and one person in particular, confessed to a prank which certainly hadn’t helped.