How one woman stepped in to protect others after sexual assaults spiked in her town

Chrissie (second from the right) was inspired to help after her daughter was harassed (Picture: Supplied) Not all heroes wear capes… our Unsung Heroes series celebrates ordinary people doing extraordinary work. Today, it’s Chrissie Lowery, 56, from Stroud, who patrols the streets with her team of Night Angels to keep women and girls safe at night. After a series of brutal stranger rapes and sexual harassment incidents in Stroud, Gloucestershire in 2022, local women banded together to fight back. The Night Angels is a group of volunteers who patrol the streets of Stroud and beyond at nighttime to offer assistance to women and girls. It was a shocking spike in sexual violence in this vibrant market town – which was named the best place to live in the UK by the Sunday Times in 2021 – that spurred ordinary mothers, daughters and sisters to get out onto the streets to protect each other. ‘We had three stranger rapes here in 2022 and multiple other serious harassment incidents. One rape was in the middle of the day near a busy road. Other women reported men exposing themselves, stalking, and making sexually aggressive comments on the canal path. The Night Angels help women out of violent situations (Picture: Supplied) ‘Women stopped going out alone or carried panic alarms and had their house keys in their hands for protection. I am not aware of anything like that happening in Stroud before and I’ve lived here all my life,’ says Chrissie Lowery, founder of The Angel Project. The seriousness of the situation was driven home to Chrissie when her daughter was accosted. ‘My daughter was followed by a stranger who grabbed her arm. She was terrified,’ says Chrissie. ‘Then, while I was in my Stroud shop, Craftology, a woman was violently thrown against my shop window by her ex-partner. Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. ‘The man then threw her into the wall opposite and ran off. I wanted to call the police but the woman begged me not to. So I took her into my shop and applied first aid to the large bump on her forehead and offered to take her to A&E.’ Things came to a crisis point at a heated community meeting, where authorities were faced by 300 understandably angry women demanding to know what police were doing to protect the women and girls of Stroud. ‘I had previously been in contact with Inspector Paul Cruise of the Neighbourhood Policing Team, who was also in attendance. We both spoke to the women about safety schemes. ‘Then we met with Inspector Lindsay, our City Safe Manager, who helped me set up Safe Space, which launched in August 2022,’ explains Chrissie. While Stroud was named the best place to live by The Sunday Times in 2021, a series of rapes and assaults were committed there (Picture: Getty Images) The Safe Space scheme has designated locations, such as shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs, throughout the South West where anyone feeling threatened can seek refuge. Staff are ready to help by calling the police, contacting your family, charging your phone or just providing a quiet place to sit until the threat has passed. The next step was the founding of Night Angels. ‘After pilot parols, I started advertising for female volunteers to support women while they were out enjoying the night time economy. A local PCSO suggested the Night Angels name and my daughter, Mollie, designed our logo,’ says Chrissie. Night Angels go out in teams of two or more and are equipped with first aid kits, blood pressure monitors, anti-drink-spiking products, alarms, water, sweets, clothing, blankets, and flip flops. Some Angels are trained mental health first aiders and others have advanced first aid training, covering basic life support and trauma management. The group works closely with the emergency services but they are an independent community project. Chrissie explains that many people are not comfortable approaching police or other officials. That’s why Angels wear distinctive bright pink high-vis vests, which symbolise their love and care for the community, as well as making them recognisable. ‘We patrol from 11 pm to 4am or sometimes later on Friday and Saturdays. We take the strain off of the emergency services,’ says Chrissie. The group have worked with GWR (Picture: Supplied) The sort of incidents they assist with range from domestic violence, mental health incidents, sexual assaults, or women struggling to get home. It sounds intense, but Chrissie is unfazed. ‘I’ve never felt in danger. Actually, men on nights out shout to us: “Angels! Thank you for looking after my sister last week – we love you!” People see us as motherly figures,’ she says. But there’s definitely a line that can’t be crossed: ‘We don’t break up fights. If a woman is being beaten we come together in a wall of women, making a circle around her to try to separate her from the abuser. ‘We talk to her and get her to safety. We take a nurturing, calm approach and it usually works,’ adds Chrissie. Importantly, it’s women-only on frontlines, as Chrissie explains that women who’ve just been sexually assaulted by a man are unlikely to turn to a man for help. But the Night Angels does have male volunteers as security coordinators, fundraisers and charity shop staff. This perhaps leads on to the inevitable question: what about protecting men? ‘We always get asked that! Our work is women-focused but we do help men frequently. If men are injured in fights or attacks we give first aid, stop the bleeding and call an ambulance. ‘I remember a man in Swindon was so severely beaten I thought it was a knife crime, there was so much blood. We gave first aid and made sure he got to hospital quickly,’ she says. The team carry flash lights and medicine to help in the event of spiking (Picture: Supplied) As might be expected, training to become a Night Angel is intense and not for everybody. It takes about one year, with regular refreshers to keep up-to-date. Funding is always needed for more equipment and courses. The Angels have a charity shop in Gloucester, donation tins at Safe Spaces scheme venues and an Amazon wishlist. After expanding to Gloucester City, Swindon Old Town and even some Great Western Railway trains, Chrissie now has a team of around 100 volunteers. She would love to expand Night Angels into Bristol and beyond in the future. For Chrissie, all of her hard work setting up Night Angels feels worthwhile when they get positive feedback from those who they help. ‘Women thank us all the time. They say, “you helped me get home safe.” That means everything to me,’ says Chrissie. Arrow MORE: Sorry men, women are now turning to tentacles for ‘obliterative’ orgasms Arrow MORE: Hyrox athlete competing covered in faeces sparks huge debate — but it’s becoming normal Arrow MORE: We’re raising our toddler on a farm — she thinks having a pony at breakfast is normal