Salisbury Street Pastors celebrate 15 years

The group estimate they have had around 60,000 conversations with people in need

A charity which helps people in distress on nights out is celebrating its 15th anniversary.

The Salisbury branch of the Street Pastors go out into the city every Saturday night between 22.00 and 04.00 on Sunday morning.

Co-ordinator for the group, Brian Percey, said the group had seen big changes over the last 15 years.

"At the start it was all about binge drinking, but now quite a lot of younger people aren't drinking as much," he said.

The group gives out flip-flops to women who have taken off their high heels on nights out, as well as water to help people sober up and 'space blankets' to keep people warm.

They estimate they have spent 50,000 volunteer hours out helping people and have given out 4,000 bottles of water and nearly 5,000 pairs of flip-flops in 15 years.

Their anniversary will be marked by a special service at St Thomas Church in Salisbury at 1800 BST on Sunday.

"The majority of our volunteers are retirees. When granny or grandad tells you to go home and you've had too much to drink, then it works," Mr Percey said.

Keith Leslie, from Salisbury, has spent about 2,000 hours on the streets.

"If it's a cold January evening and it's rainy and cold, the last thing you want to do is go outside at night," he said.

"One night we walked a girl home who was very frightened at a guy aggressively coming onto her.

"It later transpired that guy assaulted another girl later on and he was arrested.

"We never leave people until a taxi comes or people are safe, and we're like a mobile island of safety as we move around," he added.