Dom Pannell's Blog

Crisis Open Christmas 2006: Day Seven

Back on the Main Gate, it was largely a quiet day. Guests came and chatted as they went in and out of the centre.

The hot news item during the night was that ten puppies had been born in the makeshift kennels (AKA 'Dogs'). I didn't get to see them unfortunately, but it was a happy note on which to finish the pre-shift briefing.

Dogs is very close to the Main Gate, so several of the guests who came over for a chat are dog owners. Over the years I've been helping at Crisis, I've never ceased to be impressed by the condition of the dogs that live with London's homeless people. As the cliché goes, a dog is a man's best friend - well, from the health of these dogs, their owners certainly look after them well - in some cases, the dog looks in a better state than the person that holds their lead.

The Main Gate never operates completely without hitches and today two banned guests managed separately to slip past us and enter the centre. Bannings occur if a guest, or a volunteer, breaks one of the Open's four rules: no violence, no weapons, no drugs, no alcohol (the latter doesn't apply at the Drinkers Centre). The duration of a banning can range from a matter of hours (if the GBs want a guest to calm down) to several years across all centres. Most result from altercations between guests and lead to a ban for the current Open.

One of the bannees had been sitting just yards outside the perimeter fencing all morning and must have bided his time for the perfect moment - we think it was at a point when Kevin had gone in for some lunch, I was outside speaking to a policeman regarding a missing person that had telephoned to say he was in the centre. An ambulance turned up just then and another of the volunteers left the gate to send it to the entrance at the rear. This was clearly down to poor briefing by me and it is lucky that nothing serious occurred as a consequence. It was a useful reminder of the need for vigilance.

I still don't have a clue how the other banned Guest made it past us, as everyone on the Gate knew what he looked like and had been briefed that he was not allowed to come in.

Both gents were spotted while inside (Kevin collared one of them standing in line at the lunch queue). They were quickly confronted and persuaded to walk outside again. Neither came back during our shift.

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Not sure why, but GB Graeme thought it odd that I turned up with a roast pheasant leg for my breakfast... seems perfectly reasonable to me!

Posted by dompannell at December 31, 2006 6:16 PM | TrackBack