Shrewsbury Street Pastors on the streets and ready to help

Shrewsbury Street Pastors give up their time for free to help people in the town centre, whether that is a chat, a hot drink, or a pair of flip flops for sore feet.

The group, now in its sixth year, operates on Friday and Saturday nights, and over the year expenses and training costs amount to about £34,000, which will just increase next year as more initiatives are put into action.

Steve Jones, director of operations, said that extra patrols are put on throughout December, leading up to New Year's Eve.

He said: "There's a foot patrol that goes out and we have our vehicle, the donkey, that is going out as well.

"The donkey is great as it's a safe place and if anybody needs looking after we can get them on board and look after them.

"With the weather dropping, we give out a lot of hot chocolates and also give them out to homeless people.

"There was one homeless man recently who had a flask so we filed it up with tea and lots of sugar.

"People say to us how wonderful it is what we do. We give out lollies, bottles of water and flip flops.

"People know that we are there and that they are safe."

Mr Jones said he will be spending his New Year's Eve volunteering in the town centre, ready to help those in need.

"We go out on Fridays and Saturdays and will go out on New Year's Eve, it's a lovely time to go out as you get a lot of hugs and kisses," he added.

"We've got more volunteers over the Christmas period and we're always on the look out for people who need help.

"To be a street pastor you have to be from a local church, but people who believe in our cause can help raise funds.

"We probably have about eight to 12 people out per night over the Christmas period.

"On Fridays we go out from 9pm to midnight and on Saturdays we're out from 10pm until late, whenever we're needed until. I was out the other Saturday and didn't get home until after 5am."

Mr Jones said the group will help whenever they can. Recently they were called by a club to help a couple who could not get a taxi for three hours.

He said: "We got there and it turned out they were in their 80s and had been out celebrating their anniversary.

"They had a cup of tea and we took them home as they didn't live far from town. Obviously they were incredibly grateful.

"You come across a whole range of things."

The street pastors desperately need more volunteers next year, Mr Jones said.

Among the new ventures, they will be starting a new "soup hub" at the Abbey Church on Monday evenings for anyone who turns up.

The group has also been working in partnership with other organisations, such as Shropshire Mind, Shropshire Fire and Rescue, and the Samaritans.

Mr Jones said: "It's very much about partnership work and trying to keep people safe. Particularly with all the stuff around the water as we're part of the Respect the Water campaign.

"All our guys are throw line trained by Shropshire Fire and Rescue.

"We've also had training with the Samaritans about how we deal with people who want to commit suicide.

"Christmas can be a very happy time for some people but a very dark time for other people.

"It's all about caring and helping people.

"To keep everything going we need about £34,000 a year, as it grows there will be a whole range of new activities and it will cost more too.

"Although they are volunteers, they need to be trained and equipped the best that they can be."

For more information visit streetpastors.org/locations/shrewsbury