Meet Campus Celebrity Maddy Ellis, member of Nottingham Night Owls!
How did you come to create Nottingham Nightowls?
As a student here, I have enjoyed all the excitement Nottingham night life has to offer. However, I quickly realised that in the small 20 minute gap between the safety of the clubs and the safety of their home, students were extremely vulnerable. After speaking to more students, I realised that they all had a horror story about a drunken journey home. I then followed this up with the police who gave me some statistics, showing how the night crimes in Nottingham correlate perfectly with the student term time. It was clear that there needed to be an improvement in the safety of students on nights out. From there, I gathered up a group of students and we have worked for the last 8/9 months to get this project ready, allowing the owls to be out and about keeping people safe!
What are your main responsibilities?
My main responsibilities in Nottingham Night Owls currently is building the project up so that everything is sustainable. In addition to running the shifts and publicising the project, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work. I also organise the executive team who work extremely hard. To ensure that Night Owls is providing the best possible service, I keep in regular contact with the relevant people in the city. This helps us organise the right places to patrol at the right times.
What is the most difficult aspect of the job?
I think the most difficult aspect of my job is accepting that there are many problems we cannot prevent. As brilliant as it is that we have started shifts on Wednesdays and managed to help lots of people, I am very aware that there are 6 other nights in the week when Night Owls are not out to protect students! The more statistics and evidence I collect, it is becoming increasingly obvious just how many vulnerable students are still getting into difficult situations throughout the week. Although I am more than happy to put in the work needed to expand our service, we are extremely limited by funding at the moment. Without more funding and trained volunteers we cannot yet start patrolling on other nights. This is something we will work towards as soon as possible.
Any funny anecdotes about drunk students in the streets of Nottingham?
Just the other week, I was looking after a girl who vomited on her legs before saying ‘oh look I found my sick’. I have actually been collating the most hilarious quotes from very grateful – and very drunk – students:
“You are living life the way Beyoncé would want you to, thank you”
“Not all heros have capes, some have baby blue high vis vests”
“When I grow up I want to be a night owl and help keep people safe”.
“This is the best biscuit I have ever tasted in my life!” – exclaimed one boy who was talking about a Tesco value basic custard crème!
What would be your best piece of advice for students to bear in mind on nights out?
My best advice for students on nights out would be to stay together; once you are alone, you are so much more vulnerable. Whether you want to go to the loo, get out some cash or go home early, try to stick together.
One more piece of advice would be about taxis. If you do end up getting a taxi home, ring a company such as DG. It is a lot safer as there is a record of who is driving you, what car you are in and where you were picked up from. However, if you do get in a cab off the street, make sure to ask the taxi driver if you can take a picture of the number plate, registration and driver. You can then send this to anyone on your contact list and there will be a record of where you are and who you are with. If a taxi driver is not willing to do this,it would probably be a good idea to get into a different taxi.
In general, just stay together! Don’t feel afraid to ask services such as Night Owls for assistance. It is exactly what we are here for; whether you want your phone charged, a glass of water, walked home, a foil blanket, poncho, flipflops, a lollipop or anything else! Never feel like you are wasting our time – all our volunteers have chosen to be out and about to help students feel safe and make sure there night ends in a hoot!
Are clubs supportive of the work you do?
All the clubs and bars in Nottingham who we have spoken to have been extremely supportive of our project. They help in a variety of ways; from agreeing to call us if they see a vulnerable student who needs to be taken home, to letting the volunteers use their facilities (such as toilets, medical rooms, glass recycling bins). In particular, Andy Hoe has been extremely helpful – he has been working really hard to promote Night owls and even donated some funds to help with our training and supplies!
Do you rely primarily on donations?
We have received £300 from the University! Other than that, we are funded totally by donations, fundraising and contributions from the exec team. We really want to continue the work we are doing so are trying to source more funding opportunities.
One good reason to become a Nottingham Nightowl?
Nottingham Night Owls is an rapidly expanding group – it’s amazing to be part of something which is so obviously making a difference. If I had to pick one main reason to become a Night Owl – it would be the feeling you get after a shift when you hear even just one person say “Thank you”. In that moment, you know their night could have turned out extremely differently had you not been there.