Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Bus beacon of hope at night for those in need of a safe haven
Rising rents and the high cost of living are swelling the numbers of people living on the streets but it’s not only a big city problem. Sue Smith spoke to Gerry Watkins, founder of The Big Yellow Bus Project providing refuge for the homeless in Cirencester, a town perceived to be one of the more affluent areas of the Cotswolds
AS darkness falls in Cirencester’s market place the lights come up on the 11th-century parish church shining on the twists and curves of the high walls around the stately home of the fifth Earl and Countess of Bathurst.
But behind this genteel setting, a favourite on the Cotswold tourist route, there’s no escaping the shadowy figures in the doorways who are preparing to bed down for the night.
Despite a general assumption that there is no poverty in these chocolate-box rural market towns, ever increasing numbers of rough sleepers have shown that homelessness is not confined to the big cities, and small towns are by no means immune.
One man who knows that all too well is Gerry Watkins, who on Christmas Eve rolled The Big Yellow Bus Project into Cirencester offering respite to the town’s street sleepers and the vulnerable.
“What better Christmas gift to give the homeless than warmth and shelter,” says Gerry.
One of the first people to benefit since The Big Yellow Bus was parked up outside the leisure centre was a young man who, despite being in employment, had been sleeping in the local graveyard as he couldn’t afford the area’s high property rentals. With temperatures plummeting he posted on Facebook that he could stand it no longer and had decided to end his life, signing off his post with “goodbye world”.
“We got to him, thankfully, just in time and brought him back to the bus where we gave him a change of clothes, food and a hot drink and we are now helping him to sort himself out,” says Gerry.
‘Graveyard Simon’, as he has become known, says he was scared to ask for help but thanks to the Big Yellow Bus Project, he says he is starting to see a brighter future.
“If we hadn’t been here that night, we might have been reading the news the next day about yet another homeless person found dead sleeping rough,” says Gerry, visibly welling up at the memory.
Gloucestershire-born Gerry fundraised the entire bus conversion to provide a safe haven for those in need after becoming aware of the hidden crisis of homelessness in rural areas.
“This is a beautiful town but the powers-that-be would rather pretend there is no problem,” says Gerry.
Cirencester Foodbank reported its busiest December ever and gave out 75 food parcels between Christmas and New Year to Signpost, the charity that works with the homeless.
“You look around Cirencester and you see wealth. You can almost smell the money – nice cars and welldressed people in riding boots and hunting caps – but there’s a whole other world going on here too,” says Gerry.
“Where there was once poor, middle-class and rich, there now just seems to be poor and rich and many of us would be shocked to hear we are only four payslips away from being homeless. The days of having a job for life and the security to pay your bills are long gone.”
The Big Yellow Bus has a small wood burner, a kitchen and seven beds including two lockable pods for females. He bid for it on eBay, he says for “a bargain £3,500.” He then set about getting the £29,000 needed to kit it out.
Race nights, bingo, raffles and music events have brought the money in and the bus has been swamped with support from people donating food, for humans and dogs, bedding and toiletries.
He’s had messages of support from as far afield as Florida and Boston in the USA.
Most days the Project puts up a wish list on Facebook for things that are running low or that they need urgently, such as a pair of size 10 men’s shoes this week.
Gerry would like to get some solar panels for the bus and enough storage for everything that is donated is becoming a problem.
Local businesses have helped with wood to keep the fire going and a female jogger dropped off some washing powder, bin bags and tea towels while she was passing last weekend.
“Some of the smaller, independent businesses in the town have been very generous, even though they are struggling themselves,” says Gerry.
Within a month there are now 30 volunteers working in shifts of two people at a time around the clock.
He says he can’t fault the spirit of the local community. Supporters showed their mettle when the bus was given two parking tickets within its first few weeks.
“Over 3,000 people bombarded the council to get the tickets quashed,” says Gerry, who has moved the bus a few hundred yards down the road, and he says it is now legally parked with insurance and an MoT.
It was through working with veterans that Gerry found himself involved in charitable organisations. Back in 2000 a friend sent him a link about a soldier who was blown up by an IED (Improvised Explosive
Device) who had lost all but one of his limbs.
It led him to volunteer with Help For Heroes and the Army Benevolent Fund before settling with a small group supporting veterans in Bristol.
A full-time warehouse driver, he works from 5am to 5pm but putting on music events to fundraise takes him around the country.
“I started to see 12-year-old girls on the streets in Manchester but it was when someone set fire to a homeless man’s tent while he was in it, in Birmingham, that was the turning point for me.
“I began to focus on people living on the streets and I didn’t have to look too far in my home county,” says Gerry.
He got the idea for the bus after hearing about a similar venture on the Isle of Wight and his ambition is to set up others in Cheltenham, Stroud and Gloucester, and is hoping to be in a position to have some paid workers to run the volunteers.
“The bus is somewhere for people to come and get warm for a few hours, have some food and a hot drink and get their heads down for the night if they want to,” he says. Gerry has been disappointed not to have received more support from either Cotswold District Council (CDC) or Gloucestershire County Council (GCC).
“I invited them to come down and see what I was doing but it just seemed to fall on deaf ears,” says Gerry.
A spokesman for CDC said this week: “We are already looking at providing our own emergency accommodation in Cirencester and have approved £35,000 to spend on a council-owned seven-bedroom property in the town which will be a game changer for the local homeless, so we wouldn’t get involved in an external venture.”
And GCC said apart from the issue of the parking tickets which was resolved, the bus project falls within the district council’s remit.
Gerry does, however, have a close working relationship with Gloucestershire Police, who pop in regularly and have on occasion brought someone in late at night and collected them the following morning to take to the police station in Swindon.
“We don’t have many rules but noone is allowed to bring in drugs or alcohol and everyone has to sign a contract. If they don’t behave they will be asked to leave,” says Gerry.
His good nature has only been abused once since setting up the bus project when he says someone working temporarily in the area had seen the bus as cheap digs.
“But we quickly sussed him out – you can tell when people are genuine – and we sent him on his way,” says Gerry.
Now 55, he says he doesn’t see himself as anything special and despite the long hours and hard work, he gets a huge sense of satisfaction by helping those worse off.
“We live in a money-grabbing world. People are increasingly driven by greed and they have forgotten to look out for anyone else but themselves,” says Gerry.
“I have lived a very good life, I have been lucky and I want to give something back. I will do anything in my power to help others that need it.
“If I was on my death bed tomorrow, I know, in my heart, I have done my very best.”
I have lived a very good life, I have been lucky
and I want to give something back. I will
do anything in my power to help others
that need it.
GERRY WATKINS