City Life Church is actively supporting the intiative of street pastors in Southampton.
Street Pastors is an inter-church project to listen and care for those that are vulnerable late at night in the city centre. Street Pastors have been operating in Southampton City Centre on Friday and Saturday nights since May 2009, going on duty to listen, care and help from 10pm to 4am.
The 63 trained volunteers are formed into 12 teams, each going on duty once per month. They are all members of local churches (so far 35 churches are involved).
When on patrol they make the streets safer by removing bottles and broken glass and being available to anyone who needs help. This includes giving directions, basic first aid, being a listening ear when someone is upset and helping drunk people find a way to get home safely.
The team on duty will typically get 3 calls to help members of the public throughout the night. These calls come from CCTV, door staff, police, taxi marshals, or the ICE bus.
Summary of activity over the first 12 months (May 2009 to end of April 2010) * 116 patrols
* 696 hours of patrolling
* 520+ miles of patrolling
* 3132 hours given by street pastor volunteers
Reducing alcohol-related harm
* calmed 120 situations that were getting aggressive
* cared for total of 299 people who were drunk
* helped 178 people clean themselves up after vomiting
* helped 147 drunk people contact a friend/family member to take them home
* administered first aid to 77 people
* gave out 149 emergency blankets (space blankets)
Removing hazards/preventing injury
* cleared 3540 bottles and glasses off the streets
* swept up broken glass 358 times
* gave out 937 pairs of flip flops
* reported suspicious people loitering in the parks approx 10 times
Information and safety
* welcomed many visitors to the city, often giving directions
* gave night bus info to 42 people
* lots of smiling and laughing and generally having fun !!
For more information: 023 8099 9896
southampton@streetpastors.org.uk Richard Pitt
Coordinator
May 2010
