Plan for 'flip flop angel' for Tain
People collectively nicknamed "flip-flop angels" – street pastors – may soon be seen in Tain.
Street pastors currently patrol the centres of 13 towns and cities in Scotland to help reduce disorder and offer help to people in need. They earned their moniker by handing out flip-flops to women tottering about in high heels.
Now, plans are afoot to introduce the flip-flop angels to Tain – one of 16 new communities in Scotland set to benefit from street pastors.
The expansion is being supported by Perth-based charity The Ascension Trust (Scotland), the umbrella body for street pastors, which is being helped in its plans by grant-making body Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland.
The Foundation has awarded the charity a £4182 grant under its Capacity Building programme, which is designed to help voluntary groups review how well they are performing and put improvements in place.
The charity will use the money to pay for professional advice on how it can operate more effectively and how it can best support the growing network of street pastors.
Mary Craig OBE, the Foundation’s Chief Executive, said: "The board of The Ascension Trust (Scotland) has already expanded relatively quickly but it is wary of overstretching its capabilities.
"We are delighted that we have been able to help it to put in place strategic development and marketing plans that would help shape and sustain the organisation in the years ahead."
The street pastors movement began in Jamaica, and was pioneered in London in 2003 and has been spun out throughout the UK, working closely with the police and local authorities. Street pastors first arrived in Scotland in 2007, and The Ascension Trust (Scotland) was established in 2010 to support the growing network.
The charity trains volunteers who patrol town centres on Friday and Saturday nights, touring the streets outside bars and clubs until the early hours of the morning, talking to people and providing a calming presence in a bid to quash any trouble and make the areas safer.
The street pastors, who wear distinctive uniforms and baseball caps, also remove glasses and bottles from the streets.
Although they are largely supported by churches, the street pastors stress that they are not "God squads" looking for vulnerable people to convert to Christianity. Their role is to make themselves available to listen to people – especially young people – and support them. 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.
There are 412 trained street pastors in Scotland, including teams in Inverness, Aberdeen and Perth.
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."
