It's a Saturday night in Newcastle and the city centre is buzzing with revellers.
Bars and clubs have welcomed the return of nightlife now that all Covid restrictions have ended but one group of volunteers knows all too well how quickly a big night out can take a worrying turn.
Newcastle Street Pastors have been patrolling the city streets on weekends since 2008, handing out everything from flip flops and phone chargers to providing basic first aid to partygoers in need. But the group of Christian volunteers say that they are attending more incidents than ever before now that restrictions have been eased.
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In the first two months of 2022 alone, Newcastle Street Pastors have already helped more than 70 people as they patrol areas including Times Square, The Gate, Collingwood Street and the Bigg Market.
"Since the easing of lockdown in April 2021, we are finding the city is extremely busy," coordinator Paul Waugh said. "We are definitely up on the number of incidents we normally [attend.] We used to average around five to six people that we assist each night, but now it is seven, eight, nine incidents regularly.
"Our teams are quite exhausted by the end of the night."
The volunteers, who patrol the city every Saturday from around 10pm to 4am, say they have helped 78 vulnerable people during the period from January 1 to March 5. That works out at 47 women and 31 men who needed help with everything from getting home safely, finding their friends, and needing first aid from St John's Ambulance.
"It is extremely busy for us," Paul continued
"We get contacted by door staff, the police, and we also come across people who are vulnerable. That can be somebody who we find who is very drunk who we sit and chat to and give them some water to make them feel a bit more human. We find out where they're headed, how they are getting home, if they are from here, or if they are on a hen to stag do.
"Once we find out, we can try and get their parents, or boyfriend or girlfriend, to come out and pick the person up. Or, we walk them to their hotel in the city centre.
"If they are quite vulnerable and we can't get a hold of somebody, we will get them to walk along to the safe haven where the police are. If they are not brilliant, then we will try and walk them along to St John's Ambulance just to get checked over."
Paul continued: "We will also be walking around the streets looking for someone who is vulnerable. Sometimes we will see a couple of women come out of a night club and every now and again we see a male walk across just to chat with them.
"We will pop across just to see if everything is OK and if they want our help. Just by chatting to both parties, easily diffuses anything that is going to occur.
"We look out for vulnerable women. Quite often we see a woman walking up Grey Street and we go across to make sure they are OK.
"Usually, they're going for a taxi, but if they decide they want to talk to places like Heaton, we try and persuade them to get a taxi home because at 2am or 3am it can be very unsafe. That goes for lads as well, who can get in a state and it could be an issue of being assaulted and having their phone taken from them.
"Sometimes it's just as case of one drink too much - or two or three - and then they become vulnerable and get spilt up from their friends and family."
With the better weather and upcoming Bank Holiday weekends set to attract even more people to the city over the coming months, Newcastle Street Pastors are now looking for more volunteers so they can patrol on Friday nights. However, they must be a member of the church.
"If can't get a female to go out we have to cancel the team as it just wouldn't work," Paul said.
"The whole point of us being out is not to be intimidating. We are there to care for people.
"We are Christians, we are from churches from Newcastle and Northumberland. We want to assist people and help them.
"In that way, we are showing God's love but we are certainly not out there preaching.
"The dedication of our volunteers is absolutely amazing."
To volunteer email: newcastle@streetpastors.org.uk
How Newcastle Street Pastors have helped so far in 2022:
Flip-flops handed out 75
Bottles and glass binned 428
Bottles of water handed out 67
First aid dressings 5
Safety blankets used 88
Calls from CCTV Operator 19
Calls from door staff or taxis 12
