‘Safe space needed for local substance abusers’

As attempts are made to make the area around the Town Church alcohol-free, Zoe Lihou said there was a need for a safe space residence with basic amenities including a bed, shower and washing machine.

Most days there are up to a dozen people who sit on the benches outside the Town Church, often drinking alcohol.

Leaving an event one morning, Mrs Lihou stopped and spoke to some of them, finding out more about their circumstances and what had led them to drink at 10am.

‘It’s very easy to condemn what I call the bench-dwellers,’ she said.

‘People are in need of a safe space to spend the day time or, if they do have their own homes, somewhere they can go to drink, because they shouldn’t be out drinking in Town like that.’

The Guernsey Press spoke to Sheena Eborall and Tony Nico who spend some time each day on the benches outside Town Church. While they were not homeless and did not abuse alcohol, some of their friends they meet on the benches were.

Mr Nico said: ‘Guernsey needs another charity away from the church that helps people in their situation.’

Ms Eborall agreed, saying somewhere safe they could sleep at night would be hugely beneficial.

‘Of course if they’re absolutely drunk and making a fuss the police could be called, but they’re harmless really, people just like sitting on the benches people-watching and socialising.’

‘I think if you’re putting your cans in the bin when you’ve finished and you’re just sitting there, what’s the problem?’

Many, they said, cannot afford to sit in the pubs and drink.

Mrs Lihou is passionate about enhancing Town, but she was concerned that sometimes people were seen to be drunk and could be struggling with an addiction in public.

‘I’m in the process of applying to make the area around the church an alcohol-free zone, and the parish has had complaints in the past from people concerned that some of the people there feed the pigeons,’ Mrs Lihou said.

There are facilities and organisations in the island that offer help, but the people who spend time outside Town Church either do not want to go because it is affiliated with a religion, or they would have to be sober to get help.

‘It looks awful to have people – sometimes as many as 10 regulars – sitting there drinking in the mornings, but addiction can affect absolutely anyone and it’s not as easy to stop as people assume,’ she said.

‘We can’t keep procrastinating, we have to do something proactive to help these people.’

One option she has considered is a space which could double as an Olio food bank centre for parishioners.

‘There is so much scope on this kind of project which is community-based and focused and run so that the users run the facility and earn credits,’ she said.

‘And it wouldn’t just be for the people on the benches, it could be used by low-income families who cannot afford to run their washing machines.’