Subject: LNL report Sat April 26, 2025
And so, as a hint of Summer to come creeps up early on us, our bunch of five find themselves having to make a potentially life-altering decision - whether to wear a jacket or a tabard!!
It turned out to be a matter of individual body heating in the end.
The first hurdle to overcome is when our team leader drives up to the newly erected electronic barriers only to be told he can't come in without a passcode (obviously no such pass code had been given despite him asking the relevant authority representatives) so he was being told he can't come in to the pedestrian area. Having to uses all the charm he could muster the young lady at the call centre eventually allowed him in this once) phew!! Now we need find someone to sort out a passcode for us for the next time. The streets of Lichfield on a balmy (or should that be barmy?) Saturday night are made a more convivial place, as we set out our wares.
Almost as soon as we are set up we are regaled by a young man dressed in what is definitely a 'best man' styled wedding suit, resplendent with boutonnière (French for buttonhole, tu ne sais pas?) and asking for the first coffee of the night. Turns out that many years ago he was 'saved' by the Listeners (probably from being too drunk to function). The good news is, he has grown up to be a young man with a good job and now living in central Manchester ("where they definitely don't have anything like the Late Night Listeners") and as he is visiting Lichfield for his friend's wedding, he is reminded what a bunch of heroes we are.
It turned out to be an evening of non-stop compliments from a whole age range of people but especially from a number of twenty somethings. Two local Lichfieldians remembered us way back before Covid and wondered how come we weren't so much a regular presence anymore. The potted post Covid history was explained and that we do fortnightly shifts now with a much reduced team (who are always looking for more people to join them.... just saying!!). They moved on hoping they will see us on another one of their regular Saturday nights out.
Two sisters and their friend were directed to our chairs as one of them had apparently been verbally abused by some other girls and she was very upset about it and just wanted to go home but was scared of them bumping into the girls again as they waited for a taxi. In the end one of our team walked with them to the taxi area and stayed till their cab came.
Another two young lads stopped and chatted for some time with us wanting to know why we do it and how it all started... they were very taken by what we do and thought it was "such a good thing we were doing, showing a sense of community".
A rather young man wearing a strange helmet and carrying some equipment had been sitting opposite us on one of the benches for some time. One of our team went over to check he was OK and he said he was catching the train back home to Atherstone. We told him that the trains had stopped by now and we soon found out that he could not afford a taxi home or for somewhere to stay the night and he was clearly not dressed to be out all night. In the end two of our team took pity on the poor soul and said that at the end of the shift, they would drive him to Atherstone Station, from which he could walk to house... turns out he had spent much of the Saturday metal detecting in Beacon Park... well! , that one was a first.
Chips came (and went!!) and then it was time to pack down but our team leader was not willing to expend his charms on the call centre lady again and so parked just in front of the barrier while the car was loaded with our equipment and the team headed off to base camp!