Manchester city centre street walks mark milestone anniversary

Night walks to improve student safety in Manchester city centre marks milestone anniversary.

The Salvation Army is celebrating a year of its safety street night walks in Manchester as students start to return to universities across the city. 

The church and charity started the street walks in September last year with the aim to keep vulnerable people safe and away from risk in the city centre at night and will continue to do so this year with a group of three to four volunteers walking the same loop of the city in order to make the streets a safe place. 

Taking place every Saturday evening from 10:00 pm until 3:00 am, the group walks a pre-planned route starting at Peter Street to Northern Quarter, key areas that are renowned cultural hubs for students.

Walking over 10,000 steps through the night into the early morning and interacting with hundreds of people, each volunteer is equipped with necessities that might be needed by people out on the streets and may have become isolated from groups they were with. Items can include water, hats, socks, portable phone chargers, foil blankets and wipes. 

Calum Montgomery, youth and student outreach worker for The Salvation Army is one of the volunteers. He said: “It’s rooted deep in The Salvation Army’s DNA to be at the heart of communities and for us to go where we are needed. Nights out with friends and family should be a time for fun, but people can quickly become isolated, and situations can quickly become dangerous or confrontational, and our street chaplaincy team is there to offer support at those times. 

“Our team offers emotional support, promotes kindness and helps keep the community a safe place to be. We take the time to have conversations – sometimes people just need to talk to someone or have a cry. We also offer practical support too like water, wipes and a phone charger when needed. We even carry out tasks as simple as helping someone cross the road safely. It feels human to be able to offer a friendly ear and a helping hand when it is needed most and we are proud to be a part of keeping our city safe.”

The Salvation Army student street team is also there to work alongside the authorities and key personnel working in the city centre and will often defuse situations and offer support through community chaplaincy.

Calum added: “University life can be tough and on nights out it is often young people that are away from their family, sometimes for the first time in their lives and when you have lots of different groups together in the same space, worlds can collide and that can in turn sometimes generate tricky situations. We make it our mission to go where the people are and signpost to help and support that they need in a non-judgmental way, journeying with people and walking alongside them, making the streets a safer place.”

The street walks are operated solely by volunteers and funded directly by donations to The Salvation Army. For anyone looking to support the work of The Salvation Army across Manchester, donations can be made at www.salvationarmy.org.uk/manchester-central.