At the recent Night Time Industry Summit, we met up with the good people at help me Angela, an organisation with a mission to enhance personal safety. Using a suite of tools that sit behind an app, they may well have the answer for those that don’t feel confident about attending festivals. We asked them to explain:
With the festival season approaching, many of us will start to plan our kit list, ensuring we are well prepared for the event. ID, ✔️, wet wipes, ✔️, sun cream, ✔️, portable mobile phone charger, ✔️. The list is endless.
One thing however, which is deterring some festival-goers from purchasing their ticket, is the thought of becoming a victim of crime. Festivals are generally safe environments, but there is unfortunately an element of criminality that still occurs at every event, to a greater or lesser extent.
Last year, arrests at Leeds Festival almost doubled, with the majority of these relating to drug offences. Fifty people were ejected from Reading Festival following anti-social behaviour, yet Glastonbury reported only one person being arrested, with a significant decrease in crime reported, compared to the last festival in 2019.
So, the message here is “BE PREPARED”. And that doesn’t just relate to your kit list, but your own personal safety.
help me Angela are on a mission to help everyone feel safer. They are the only personal safety app in the UK who offer their members 24/7 access to a team of dedicated Personal Safety Specialists, available at the touch of a button to offer reassurance, support, and advice. The app includes a ‘Get Me Out Of Here’ feature, should a member wish for a distraction to leave a particular situation. They also have a ‘Follow Me’ feature, whereby should a member deviate from a planned route or fail to arrive at the time specified, a Personal Safety Specialist will make every effort to locate them and if required, offer the appropriate intervention. A member can also select up to three contacts to come with them on their journey, and see their exact location using the free Guardianship app. help me Angela isn’t a tracking app and will only be there for their members when they need them.
And if a member were to become the unfortunate victim of a personal assault or abuse, they also offer a unique Incident Recovery Programme which is designed to help them recover and get back to being themselves again. Treatments include counselling, scar repair, emergency accommodation, and replacement of stolen or damaged items as a result of an incident.
It’s £4.99 for a monthly membership, however, this can be cancelled at any time. Therefore, if you did just wish to have the app whilst attending a festival, you have the option to do so.
So, whilst preparing your festival kit list, be sure to download help me Angela, and turn your phone into a mobile safety device, with the added reassurance that someone else has got you.
