Grandmother honoured during Volunteers’ Week for community patrol work
A grandmother from Birmingham is being recognised during Volunteers’ Week for her work helping to keep her local area safe.
Nina Hayr, who lives in Handsworth, founded the Friends of Friary StreetWatch group in 2018 after concerns about issues in her neighbourhood including anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping and illegal parking.
She says the idea for the group began after a confrontation over pavement parking while she was out with her grandchildren.
“We had four vans parked and I spoke to the driver and said, would you expect me to walk? The answer I got was, shall I park it on your roof? And my reply was, park it on yours first,” she said.
The volunteer group now carries out regular patrols, reporting issues to the police and council and helping identify problems in the community.
Nina says the work is about keeping standards in the area she has lived in for decades.
“I grew up with values and standards that we need to maintain,” she said. “Why are people parking on pavements when we’re not allowed to?”
During one patrol, she says the group helped a woman in crisis after she approached them for help.
“She said, ‘I want to kill myself. Call me an ambulance.’ We did and we stayed with her until the ambulance came,” she said.
She also described another incident where the group helped support a vulnerable woman found begging, who was later taken to a safe place.
Nina says she intends to continue her volunteering work.
“It’s my home,” she said. “As long as I’ve got breath in me, it will continue.”
She was recently recognised at a West Midlands Police Volunteers’ Week awards ceremony alongside other community volunteers.