Reach out – and they’ll be there to shelter you
“I don’t like that new version of Oliver Twist,” said Crystal, sparkling, and pulling her colourful beanie hat down over her hair.
“Well, I haven’t seen it. But they shouldn’t have put Rita Ora in it. They should’ve put me in it. I’m an actress!”
On a cold Friday morning in November, packing two flasks of coffee and a large budget pack of custard creams, the outreach team from Julian House set out, as they set out every morning, to meet the people sleeping in the cold around Bath.
The first rough sleeper we met kept us at arms’ length. A slim, well-spoken, middle-aged woman was packing up a suitcase under the canopy of the Bath and North East Somerset one-stop shop opposite the old police station in Manvers Street.
Unusually she wasn’t known to the team. She immediately confirmed she had slept there but she didn’t want coffee and she didn’t want information. A firm “no, thank you” sent us on our way.
There were four of us: kindly Charlie; formal and professional Helen representing Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health partnership, and also an expert in substance abuse; tall Dave, who makes wonderful coffee and has experienced homelessness himself for many years until he was helped back on his feet by a serious accident; and myself, from the Chronicle.
The information we had was important. That Friday was the start of a cold snap, and temperatures below freezing were likely to last until after Christmas. The life expectancy of someone living on the streets is just 44, so in these circumstances, the doors of the hostels are flung open and space is found for everyone in the warm.
The weather was kind to the outreach team, in the sense that they were wrapped up very warm and the heavens didn’t open until a quarter past nine, so at seven o’clock it was possible to walk through Bath, both the pedestrian streets and the thoroughfares.
We wove our way through the new Southgate centre and along Southgate Street itself where we met our first customer known to the team who was very glad of the coffee.
Charlie explained that the temperature would plummet over the next few nights so there were extra places available at the hostel due to severe weather
protocol.
We poured coffee for customer after customer in Stall Street, Union Street, Milsom Street, up beyond the Assembly Rooms and back along Walcot Street and some of them were friendly, some dismissive, and some very, very sleepy.
Dave explained to me that while the morning bustle of traders begins around seven, this is sometimes the time when people on the street are first able to sleep.
When the night is at its coldest, people have to get up to move around and at dawn when it’s warm enough and you finally get off to sleep, people loading their shops start to disturb you. Even beautiful birdsong can be unbearable after a sleepless cold night.
The one thing that was very clear
to me throughout all our conversations was that Julian House was making a very positive difference to everyone’s lives. The charity faced a £200,000 shortfall in revenue during 2020, its shops were forced to close during two lockdowns and its activities were very much reduced.
But the outreach workers are able to find an escape route for almost everyone facing homelessness. They try and they try again and they give you second chances.
The charity makes a sizeable amount of its revenue during the Christmas appeal. It relies upon and is very grateful for the support of Chronicle readers over this period to support its work 365 days per year, so please give generously.
The last person I met was Crystal. She had a big laugh and a big personality and had been sleeping under the grand portico of one of Bath’s landmark buildings.
In exchange for a caramel latte from Greggs, Crystal glowed with a really lovely charisma and shone a bright light on the world of homelessness as she told me a part of her story.
Like many people on the streets, Crystal told me she had found herself separated from a child and she had been abused.
But she really should have been an actress, she told me, and it was very true!
Despite the dangerous weather, Crystal was resistant about spending a night in a hostel. For now she preferred to stay where she was.
*Names have been changed.
❝ The outreach workers are able to find an escape route for almost everyone facing homelessness – they try and they try again