Thurso and Wick could soon have street pastors
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‘FLIP flop angels", so-called for because they hand out shoes to drunk women tottering on high heels, may be introduced to Caithness next year.
Plans are afoot to find street pastors for the town centres in Thurso and Wick to help reduce disorder and offer people in need of help.
Caithness is one of 16 communities across the country where the initiative could be introduced thanks to expansion plans by Perth-based charity the Ascension Trust (Scotland).
The charity trains volunteers to patrol town centres on Friday and Saturday nights, touring the streets outside bars and clubs, talking to people and providing a calming presence in a bid to quash any trouble and make the areas safer.
Their work involves engaging with people from all walks of life, including young people with mental health issues, young women with unwanted pregnancies and people who have had too much to drink.
Although supported by churches, the street pastors stress that they are not "God squads" looking for vulnerable people to convert to Christianity.
Susan Smith, project support worker with the Ascension Trust (Scotland), said: "Street pastor groups are set up by individuals in their own communities, with the co-operation of the police, the local authority and a range of voluntary and statutory organisations.
"We then work with individual groups, training the street pastors and providing administrative support."
Read more in Friday’s John O’Groat Journal.
