Mathematics undergraduate student Maddy Ellis has launched the country's first night-time pastoral service for students' safety and well-being on nights out – Nottingham Night Owls.
Similar to the city's Street Pastors weekend programme, the 132-strong volunteer service is aimed specifically at university students to help them on their way after nights out, with everything from flip-flops and water to a helping hand to the nearest taxi rank, as well as picking up litter around the city centre along the way.
According to their website: "Nights out are a lot of fun, but getting home can make students very vulnerable. We are now running patrols every Wednesday and Thursday to make sure that every night ends in a hoot!".
The project has the backing of Nottinghamshire Police, Nottingham City Council, the Street Pastors, nightclubs such as popular student venue Ocean and both The University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University - along with 1,109 students' signatures supporting it - and will next year become an official Nottingham University association. Maddy also hopes to launch the programme at other universities in the future, including in her home city of Cambridge.
Nottingham Night Owls is always recruiting new volunteers, so get in touch with them at nottinghamnightowls@outlook.com if you'd like to help out!
Posted on Monday 4th July 2016