AN organisation dedicated to tackling problems on the city streets in Worcester has welcomed some new recruits.

Worcester Street Pastors patrol the streets to provide support to vulnerable late-night revellers and anyone else in need.

The inter-denominational church initiative was pioneered in London in 2003 and there are now almost 300 groups in operation across the UK.

Now Worcester Street Pastors, which is a partnership between local churches, Worcester City Council and West Mercia Police, is celebrating welcoming nine newly qualified street pastors to its ranks.

A special commissioning service was held at Worcester Baptist Church, in Sansome Walk, where representatives of local churches, street pastors, prayer pastors, members of the management team, friends, family and supporters were all present to welcome the new recruits to the ranks.

Management team chairman, Matt Town, the senior pastor at Lifehouse - Worcester’s Elim Church in Lowesmoor - said: “Our 5th commissioning service was a great evening, celebrating together and thanking God for all that has been achieved over the past few years.

"That people with such busy lives are willing to give up time to the lengthy training programme and then regularly go out into the streets for six hours or so on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings to listen, care and help is amazing. We owe so much to our volunteers.”

Worcester Street Pastors started up almost six years ago, and since that time uniformed team members have been working in and around the city centre on Saturday nights from 10pm until around 4am.

During 2015 in Worcester, assistance provided by Worcester Street Pastors included 26 occasions of helping to calm aggressive situations, 158 supporting vulnerable people, 733 pairs of flip-flops given to bare-footed people, 857 drinks of water handed out, 26 blankets given to the cold, 827 bottles/broken glass cleared to safety and 52 cases of support and comfort being provided to the homeless.

More information about the Worcester Street Pastors is available at the Facebook page @worcesterstreetpastors.