Call for ‘street angels’

THE Mayor of Henley wants to start a volunteer group to help prevent antisocial behaviour in the town.

It follows a successful campaign by street pastors during last year’s Henley Royal Regatta to help people who had too much to drink.

They spent each night from Wednesday to Saturday in the town centre handing out bottls of water and lollipops to help restore drinkers’ blood sugar levels.

Many of the pastors travelled from Reading, Abingdon and Wallingford and gathered at the d:two centre, home of community group Nomad, from 9.30pm to 3.30am.

Councillor Lorraine Hillier told a meeting of the town council’s town and community committee that the group had done a “fantastic job”. 



She said: “If someone had too much to drink they would take them to Nomad and give them some toast and make sure they were better before sending them on their way.”

The Mayor suggested creating “Henley Street Angels” and applying for a grant from South Oxfordshire District Council.  

She said: “There is a specific grant to target antisocial behaviour and we could get a grant for a proper uniform, so they could be properly  identified.”

Councillor David Eggleton said: “If you defuse situations you can have the police doing what they ought to be doing.”

The committee agreed to investigate the idea.