Shrewsbury street pastors hail debut a big success

Volunteers have hailed their first street pastors operation a 'tremendous' success after helping dozens of revellers in Shrewsbury town centre.

The army of 18 newly-commissioned street pastors were in various parts of the town centre on Saturday night giving out numerous snacks and lollipops, and providing people with water and flip flops if needed.

Their non-confrontational role follows others across the country and has been organised by police, churches and Shropshire Council.

The street pastors were also accompanied by Gareth Jones, the Ascension Trust representative who carried out the commissioning of a similar scheme in Wrexham.

The Christian volunteers from 11 local churches patrolled the streets from 9.15pm until 4am and engaged with 55 clubbers who had been drinking alcohol, including one who was walked back to his home.

They also assisted three female revellers, had 48 general conversations and spoke to 25 pub or club owners about their work. Dozens of broken bottles and one pair of scissors were also removed from the streets during the inaugural night.

A statement on the Shrewsbury Street Pastors Facebook page said: "It was a busy night but with two patrols, all areas of the town centre were visited. The reception they all received was tremendous with virtually everyone thanking them for being on the streets."

A launch service was held at St Chad's Church on Saturday and Bishop Mark Rylands addressed the street pastors with encouragement and a blessing.

Dave Matthias, one of the organisers, said: "Many of the younger people in the town have seen the scheme in action in other cities and so seemed to understand what we were trying to do."

By David Seadon