CHRISTIAN volunteers are hoping to make a big difference helping revellers on the city's streets at weekends.

Over the past six years, street pastors have been established in more than 100 towns across the UK, and now have 2,000 members nationwide.

Street pastors are volunteers from local churches who patrol town centres overnight, offering assistance to those who need it.

Aran Richardson, 35, a pastor at the city's Riverside Church, in Okehampton Street, St Thomas, is heading up the Exeter branch.

He said: "The scheme was born out of a project in London, which was very successful.

"Our teams of trained volunteers will provide an extra presence on the streets and are there to help vulnerable people, who are often intoxicated.

"We will work with the police and nightclub security staff and act as the middle ground.

"The idea is to be responsible for each other and our community.

"Our work will involve practical tasks, such as picking up broken glass, handing out flip flops to women who are too drunk to walk in their heels, or hats and gloves to keep people warm in cold weather.

"We will also be there to listen to people's problems if they are upset."

Street pastors are appointed after a vetting process, then they must undergo 12 weeks of training before they begin patrolling the streets.

They plan to help binge drinkers to get home safely.

Aran said: "In the past, street pastors have found women alone collapsed in doorways, so they put them in a taxi home or call their friends."

The street pastors will be easily recognisable as they will be uniformed in bright blue jackets and matching baseball caps.

Aran thinks it is the elderly street pastors who have proved most successful.

He said: "The grannies are particularly effective in reducing the threat of violence by just being there.

"People seem to find it harder to be offensive when there is a little old lady trying to defuse the situation."

So far, Exeter Street Pastors have 73 interested candidates and training will begin in April.

The teams are set to be deployed on to the city's streets on Saturday, June 6.

The Exeter Street Pastor Scheme will be officially launched at Exeter Cathedral on Friday, March 27, at 8pm.

For information about Exeter Street Pastors, visit www.street pastors.org.uk.