During December there were:

• 2 Friday night patrols, 3 Saturday night patrols and a New Year’s Eve patrol
• 6 Patrols totalling 26 hours of cover involving 17 Street Pastors
• 18 pairs of flip-flops given, 29 bottles of water and 2 space blankets
• 380 lollies and Love Hearts

Surprisingly, December can be a fairly quiet time for our Street Pastors with many people presumably spending money on Christmas rather than on a night out. At the beginning of December we noticed a lot more men out in Wantage than women. Many had had lots to drink, so the party spirit wasn’t completely gone!

We’re pleased to say that we didn’t have to deal with any serious incidents in Wantage or Grove, although we were on hand to help calm a few heated discussions and of course we found plenty of ladies in need of footwear in the early hours.

One of our teams spent time with a distressed lady that we had first met several years ago. We spent time listening and encouraging her, and ensured that she was able to get home safely.

New Year’s Eve was a very busy night with over 600 hundred people out in Wantage celebrating the new year. The evening was very good-natured and passed without major incident. We joined in with lots of people around King Alfred’s statue at midnight and cleared up where a few glasses had got broken. At the end of the night, two men engaged in a heated discussion but were swiftly separated by each of their friends and the situation didn’t escalate any further.

Thanks to everyone who supported our stall at the Dickensian Evening at the beginning of December and especially to all those that worked so hard to make the event so successful!

Best wishes for 2018 from all of us at Wantage & Grove Street Pastors.