“It was a different environment when we were younger, if you went to a club or a venue, anyone who was intoxicated would just get kicked out, out of the front door into the night to fend for yourself,” says Gemma Bennet, co-founder of Welsafe. “And sometimes put in an even worse position.”
If you’re at Parklife, Gemma and her business partner Elise Crosdale are the people helping to keep you safe, give you a biscuit, help you find your mates and even help you get home.
If you’ve overcooked it, got sunburned, twisted an ankle, lost your friends, lost your phone, possibly lost ‘it’, or maybe your feet just hurt, you can head to their welfare tent and they’ll do everything they can to set you back on the right track.
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With 60 volunteers across the weekend - among them senior social workers, mental health workers, even surgeons - they’re expecting about 600 people to come through their tent over the weekend needing treatment. A couple more thousand will be coming through for sun cream, water, blister plasters, ear plugs, condoms or a shoulder to cry on.
They started the community interest company over six years ago, and now provide welfare services to Parklife and clubs and venues including the Warehouse Project, the Albert Hall and Six Trees. They have units working festivals in Albania and Croatia too.
“There’s no judgement,” says Gemma. “We offer people a safe space, and the support that they need, and maybe a bit of education to make a better decision next time.
“You might notice that there are no police, or security in there. And there’s a specific reason for that, it’s to make people feel comfortable.
“If there’s been any incidents of assault or sexual assault, we can provide a safe space for them. We have spiking test kits. Biscuits, drinks, foil blankets.
“We can support people in getting home safely as well, so if anyone’s lost all their friends, their phone, their keys, doesn’t know where they’re going, or how they’re going to get home, we’ll help support them in that respect as well.”
“I have a 16-year-old daughter, so knowing this is here is really, really important,” Elise says. As well as their tent, just by the main stage, they’ve got a unit set up in the car park at the Sainsbury’s in Prestwich, until 3am, and at the Heaton Park Methodist Church opposite, to help mop up before it all kicks off again tomorrow.
“It’s just about being kind,” says Gemma. “Doing what you can, when you can. And if you can give someone that support in their moment of need, it’s fantastic.”
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