First of all I have to make it very clear we do not work for the police. We will work with them, in that we will go to areas where they have identified issues, but we would only pass information to them if we believe that lives are in danger. We are peace keepers not informers.  However, the police acknowledge that what we are doing works.

So on the information given to us by the police we knew that there were issues in Fallowfield at weekends. We started going down to Fallowfield at 10:30 on a Saturday night and staying until midnight but the problem was that the students were just going out as we were leaving.  However, as we were coming up to the end of the academic year we began to make plans for September. It was decided that starting in “Fresher’s” week we would put a team out on a Friday night from 10:00PM until 3:00AM.

“Fresher’s” week finally arrived and the excitement was palpable. If you can remember back to when you were 18, just imagine being given keys to your own place, money in your bank account and your parents waving goodbye. This is it you’ve finally “arrived”. We were not there to spoil their fun but to ensure their safety. We doled out spikeys, flipflops and bottles of water. We dealt with people walking towards Didsbury when they wanted to go to Deansgate, but on the whole it was the girls vomiting in gutters (I also realised that we need to source & purchase sick bags to enable us to send home the worse for wear in taxis) and sadly one violent assault that kept us busy. Thankfully no-one was seriously hurt.

In the car park opposite Revolution I saw 2 guys attacking a student. I quickly ran over but wasn’t sure what I could do and to be honest I was scared. The attackers had pulled their balaclavas up so they couldn't be identified and were swinging motor cycle crash helmets with force at the head of the student. The student ran to the pavement where the attack continued and was helped by some friends resulting with a further guy being hit. The attackers then ran off towards the junction where they had left their motorcycles. In the meantime the guy who was attacked had collapsed on the floor and I called an ambulance.  He did not lose consciousness and got his feet but was very shaky. By this time more of his friends had joined him and it turned out they were 3rd year medics. I was absolutely convinced that he needed to go to A&E but here I was surrounded by people cleverer and better qualified than me saying he didn’t.  I stood my ground and thankfully his girlfriend listened to me and took him to A&E in a taxi as the police had informed us that the ambulance wasn't going to arrive any time soon.

Why did I stand my ground?

·         Because I had seen the force with which he had been hit

·         Because the motorcycle helmet had been damaged

·         Because I was sober

·         Because I’m a mum and that could have been my son

Little did I know that this wouldn’t be the only time that I needed to overrule people allegedly more qualified than me.

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