TEENAGE volunteers in Hereford are being trained to give first aid and other help to people on weekend nights out who find themselves in need in the city.

Seventeen 16- to 17-year-olds have joined Hereford’s Street Presence team, part of the “Lean on Me” initiative from the Vennture charity, which provides emotional and practical support on Friday and Saturday nights.

The charity, rooted in the Hereford City Mission, is a partnership with businesses, specialist services, the Church, and police. The aim is to reduce the demand on the emergency services by early intervention.

In 2024, Lean on Me responded to 276 incidents, directly assisted 1200 people, and prevented 80 emergency call-outs, the charity says.

The young volunteers’ training covers emergency first aid, mental health, safeguarding, manual handling, and alcohol or drug misuse. Each volunteer must pass three accredited courses before qualifying, and they always work under the supervision of an experienced adult.

VenntureVennture volunteers outside Hereford Cathedral

The teams, run from a mobile unit, are on the streets between 6.30 p.m. and 3 a.m., but the under-18s trainees finish at 11 p.m. This year’s September recruitment drive from local schools and colleges had been the most successful to date, said Imogen Abbott, who co-ordinates the volunteer teams at Vennture.

“This is definitely our biggest cohort since pre-Covid,” she told the Church Times. “Some want to give back to the community. Many of them are aspiring medics or wanting to go into some kind of social or caring role. Every year, we see them grow in confidence over the two years of sixth form, from not being able to go up to someone to say hello, to ending up holding conversations with everyone with whom they interact.”

Since the pandemic, fewer people were going on nights out in Hereford, and this reflected a national trend, Ms Abbott said. “I think, in general, we are probably treating fewer people who are drunk or intoxicated. We do still get a lot. But where that used to be almost all of our cases, we now see a lot of people needing a chat or reconnecting. The next place they’re going to go needn’t necessarily be A&E.”