Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Elgin Street Pastors ready for busy Christmas nights

Post Thumbnail

A group of Good Samaritans, dedicated to looking after Moray revellers, will use their friendly approach to help keep people safe this Christmas.

The Elgin Street Pastors group has maintained a vigil over weekend drinkers in the heart of the town since 2013.

And local police bosses have attributed a decrease in rowdy behaviour during the last three years to the volunteers’ peaceful interventions.

As Elgin’s nightlife kicks into overdrive over the festive period, they will be relied on more than ever to make sure people get home safely.

Group co-ordinator, Sarah Johnson, said: “Christmas is always busy, and we will have a few teams of five out on the more hectic nights.

“Our presence can reduce tensions when things are getting heated, just by smiling and chatting with people.”

Police Constable Alan Milton confirmed the town can host as many as 1,600 revellers on some Saturday evenings – and credited the pastors with keeping people on their best behaviour.

He added: “We have a great relationship with the street pastors, and we appreciate their presence as they have a totally different approach.

“We have batons and handcuffs, whereas they have flip flops and lollipops.

“We have seen a marked decrease in breach of the peace-type offences since they started up.”

People have to be Christian to join the group, which is comprised of members of 20 different churches. But pastor, Sandy Scrimgeour, joked they did not “hit people over the head with bibles”.

He added : “We don’t take on people who are not Christian, but we will help anyone at all.

“We would never go in and try to convert people, we listen to them to find out how we can care for them.

“There is never a time where we would judge them or tell them to stop drinking.

“If people are being rowdy I tell them: ‘we are here to make sure you don’t get lifted’.”

Moray Council convener, Allan Wright, attended a recent commissioning ceremony at Elgin Baptist Church.

Councillor Wright said: “I am sorry that this is needed, but they do a magnificent job.”