Street Pastors To Keep Ayr and Prestwick Party Goers Safe
Christmas party goers in Ayr and Prestwick will be kept safe by a newly formed team of Street Pastors this holiday season.
They will be working alongside Police in the town centres to keep you safe on Friday and Saturday nights.
Their role will include making sure you get home safely and clearing up broken glass from the roads.
Training is underway and they will be out in the town for the first time on December 5.
They will also set up a 'safe area' called The Inn which will be set up in Holy Trinity Church in Ayr.
Ayr Inspector Craig Feroz said: “We are delighted to be involved in the fastest ever set up of a pastor scheme in Scotland. The Inn will have the council’s community safety staff, St Andrews Ambulance, the pastors and ourselves.This will be a safe festive zone where people can come to get assistance or maybe a cup of coffee to heat them up. It will operate every Saturday night in December.”
Street Pastors was pioneered in London in 2003 by Les Isaac.
Since then they have trained over 12,000 street pastors who play an active part in more than 270 towns and cities around the UK. When you add prayer pastors, management teams and trustees, this means that there are over 20,000 volunteers in total associated with the Street Pastors network.
There are also a growing number of Street Pastors teams overseas.
Street Pastors engage with people on the streets to care for them, listen to them and help them. They work together with other partners in the night-time economy to make communities safer.
Each city project is set up by Ascension Trust, which is the governing body behind Street Pastors, and run by a local coordinator with support from local churches and community groups, in partnership with the police, local council and other statutory agencies.
Our reporter Natalie Crawford spoke to Richard Wiggins from the team...