News
High Sheriff Gets a Taste of Colchester Night Life
The Open Road Colchester SOS Bus will host a very special visitor this coming Friday evening. The High Sheriff of Essex, Lady Ruggles-Brise, will be on board from 8:30pm to experience first hand the work of SOS Bus staff and volunteers.
Wayne Powell, Open Road’s SOS Bus coordinator says, ‘We’re delighted that Lady Ruggles-Brise is keen to visit the SOS Bus; she will get a real taste of night time activity on the streets of Colchester and will see how the SOS Bus responds. On a typical Friday night we will see up to 40 people. They might be the worse for wear from too much drink, in which case we offer them water and a rest. More serious cases might need treatment for minor injuries and volunteers from the St John’s Ambulance are on hand to deal with those.’
The SOS Bus works with the police, community workers and local business to reduce crime, antisocial behaviour and reduce the impact on ambulance call-outs and A&E attendances and provides a much needed resource and service to those people visiting, living, studying or working in Colchester. The SOS Bus operates on a Friday & Saturday night in Colchester Town Centre between 8:30pm – 4am to help reduce the negative impact of excessive alcohol consumption on the night time economy in Colchester. It is staffed by one full time Open Road employee (Wayne Powell – SOS Bus co-ordinator) plus a team of volunteers.
The Bus was launched in October 2008 and is operated by Open Road a registered charity, which exists in order to reduce the harmful impact of drugs and alcohol on users, their families and communities. Support also comes from the Ambulance Service, A&E, Essex Police, Street Pastors and the local pubs and clubs.
Notes to Editors:
Open Road is a registered charity and leading provider of drug and alcohol treatment services in the East of England. For over 20 years Open Road has delivered high quality services to empower individuals and families to recover from the harmful impact of drugs and alcohol. Every year Open Road helps thousands of individuals and their families, offering a range of one to one support, group therapy and harm reduction services. Open Road currently employs 90 staff and has a team of over 100 volunteers who actively support our work.
Open Road is funded through both the Essex and the Suffolk Drug and Alcohol Action Partnerships, Primary Care Trusts, the Big Lottery Fund, charitable trusts and individual donations. In 2010/11 Open Road is expected to receive over £2 million in income.
For further information about this event and Open Road please contact: Carol Macaskill, Marketing & Communications Manager on tel: 01206 369782 Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).