Dom Pannell's Blog

Crisis Open Christmas 2006: Days Four and Five

Ha! So three COC Green Badges read this blog (GB Stuart told me this morning that he'd read my Christmas Eve entry...). I note that a grand total of none of'em goes on to leave a comment... ;-)

I didn't write an entry yesterday because several of us went to the pub after the shift finished and after a couple of pints, all I wanted to do when I made it home was to go to bed.

I was in the dining room again yesterday, doing the same thing as the previous two days, but with half the volunteers! Numbers always fall off after Christmas Day, although I don't remember the drop being quite as much as this year.

Notwithstanding the lack of vols, breakfast and lunch were served on time and we managed to clean the place up before the afternoon shift came in to take over (I did leave one guest fast asleep on his chair for the new shift to look after - I figure if someone is tired enough to sleep despite two vacuum cleaners working busily around them, there is a high chance that they need the sleep and should be left where they are, so we did).

Today brought a whole new source of fun: I was on the Main Gate, which is the welcoming committee for any guests entering the centre.

During setup last Saturday, when we erected the perimeter fences, we used some of the fencing panels to create a 'gate' comprising a passageway of approximately three metres width. This passage is where female volunteers pat down guests to try to ensure that nobody brings booze or other unwanted items (mainly booze) onto the premises. Once frisked, guests are then given a wristband that allows them to access services and Crisis to aggregate data on where resource are consumed during the Open. Then they are directed to an information point inside the centre where they can find out about what is on offer.

Once again, the general volunteers I worked with were tremendous and succeeded in maintaining a light-hearted atmosphere, in which guests were, for the most part, happy for their clothes and bags to be checked. Occasionally someone would object to having their beer cans taken off them, so they sat outside the entrance to finish them off before going in. I'm pleased to report that they largely cleaned up after themselves, which made tidying very simple indeed (thanks Kevin).

At one point a couple of bobbies walked past on their beat. They showed general interest in how the centre was going and were impressed by the number of guests who are being catered for. They went on their way, waving to a group of soon-to-be guests who were tucking into a couple of bottles of White Ace. The laissez-faire attitude that the police show to the Open is one element of the latter's success: guests are generally VERY wary of authority and institutions, so would not welcome a heavy police presence.

Over the course of the day I gave out over a packet of cigarettes to guests (a smoke goes down nicely after White Ace...). Ciggies are extremely useful as an excuse to chat to guests or to deflate moments of tension or high spirits, so Crisis provides a sporadic supply of them to volunteers to give to guests. Personally, I have always found it most effective to stop and have a smoke with guests if I have time (yeah, yeah, smoking is bad for me, yeah, yeah... I'll give up again in the new year...). I'm not sure if I'm the only volunteer to cadge cigarettes from guests, but I've formed a loose bond with some guests who might otherwise be unsociable and, unlike some vols I see, I don't generally have the problem of being swamped by guests looking for a free fag (they reckon I'm as likely to ask them for one back).

Most of the day was free of incident and quite jolly, although one guest did have to be escorted off the premises when he became too lively (he'd come in for food, but was too late for lunch and was not best pleased). I worked as a barman in a nightclub for two years in my younger years and every night was far more 'lively'!

Five days down, three to go. I wonder what tomorrow holds...

Posted by dompannell at December 27, 2006 10:50 PM | TrackBack