Street pastors needed 'more than ever'
Published 21 Oct 2011 07:29
19 Comments
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Dunfermline's Street Pastors claim they are needed now "more than ever" after being booted out of their safe zone to make way for the town's latest pub.
The pastors have become a regular fixture of a Dunfermline weekend as they patrol the streets looking out for the welfare of drunken revellers who may have had too much tipple.
They have been labelled the 'flip-flop angels' for handing out the footwear to women tottering about on high heels, removing glasses and bottles from the street and handing out first aid.
However, they have been forced to raise £9000 through grants and donations in order to buy a new safe zone vehicle as their previous base on the High Street is being transformed into a bar by Greene King, the parent company of Belhaven.
Street pastor co-ordinator Moss Barclay said, "Our safe zone is being taken over by Belhaven and we don't have another place for this winter. We don't have any buildings to go to. They're taken over by pubs.
"With Belhaven and Wetherspoon's it will make it 14 pubs and seven nightclubs in the circular area that we walk around in Dunfermline. We are needed more than ever."
JD Wetherspoon's are looking to turn the 200-year-old Guild Hall - directly across the road from the Greene King site - into a £1.1 million bar.
The seven and a half tonne van, set to go live in early December, will be used as a place to hand out hot soup and allow boozed up revellers to recover from their exertions.
Moss added, "There was a girl three weeks ago who was found on the streets and taken by the street pastors to get a taxi. She was sent home and her mum and dad had to send her right to Queen Margaret Hospital with hypothermia. She thanked the street pastors for doing that. It shows how we can help."
With the number of pubs and clubs in Dunfermline growing the pastors are also expanding after a donation from drinks company Diageo.
They committed £3500 to have another 10 street pastors trained and uniformed, raising the number available in Dunfermline to more than 40 as the pastors approach their third anniversary on West Fife streets.
Jim Stewart, the chair of Central Dunfermline Community Council, who contributed £300 to the pastors cause, said, "We fully support the scheme going forward.
"Everyone agrees that the pastors help remove the burden from the police."
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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NotHappyJan
192 posts
Oct 21, 13:01
Report commentThey could always relocate to Rosyth. The area could do with some moral direction especially given the alcohol problems the area faces.
Recommend?
Yes 47
No 50
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kaka30
309 posts
Oct 21, 15:18
Report commentYour rants about Rosyth are becoming a bit tiresome Jan.
Why not try posting some constructive coments about an article.
As for the Pastors, i take my hat of to them, they are obviousley making a differance.
Recommend? Yes 49
No 36
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Walkforce
20 posts
Oct 21, 16:23
Report commentYes, very tiresome and wholly negative just for the sake of trying to wind folk up, whatever the poster may say to try and justify themselves, they are troll light.
Recommend? Yes 40
No 35
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Blackadder
257 posts
Oct 21, 19:15
Report commentkaka30, to enable a person to make constructive comments they need to have advanced beyond the cognitive level of destruction first. Do not hold your breath...
Recommend? Yes 38
No 33
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ShahHoorsur
31 posts
Oct 21, 19:27
Report comment -
******
Oct 21, 23:09
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triskel
257 posts
Oct 21, 23:19
Report commentNice one Moss Barclay. We need more like you!
Recommend? Yes 7
No 37
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grantieboy7
1 post
Oct 22, 07:21
Report commentI think the street pastors do a fantastic job..Are they looking for volunteers or are there ways in which we can support them?
Recommend? Yes 21
No 5
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******
Oct 22, 10:52
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Ulysees
40 posts
Oct 22, 17:34
Report commentGranted I don't frequent the bars and clubs of Dunfermline regularly, however I can still appreciate the hard work and efforts made by these pastors in aiding the "binge drinking society" that has been created here.
Perhaps as well as converting a 200 year old building into a 1.1 million bar which I'm sure will return a substantial profit for Greene King, they could also provide some financial support to Dunfermline's Street Pastors as well? Also, wouldn't it would have made sense before allowing the building to be taken over by Belhaven to barter into the agreement an alternative accommodation for these people?
@NotHappyJan - were you bullied as a child? Possibly somewhere in Rosyth? I'm really struggling to grasp where you have managed to achieve such a hatred for the town? Perhaps you'd like to enlighten myself and the many others here?
Recommend? Yes 49
No 35
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ShahHoorsur
31 posts
Oct 23, 10:43
Report comment -
******
Oct 23, 21:28
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kaka30
309 posts
Oct 24, 09:09
Report commentSo Jan, you obviousley think your rants about Rosyth arent tiresome ?
Says it all really.
Recommend? Yes 28
No 27
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Blackadder
257 posts
Oct 24, 17:37
Report commentnappyjan stick with what your inane wittering, forget witty, you need intelligence for that.
Recommend? Yes 23
No 25
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******
Oct 25, 12:59
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Rosythlover
14 posts
Oct 25, 13:43
Report commentHave decided not to rise to your venemous diatribes any longer NHJ, more important things to think about. You are so repetitive that it's now becoming boring. Change the tune.
Recommend? Yes 16
No 7
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joesbro
200 posts
Oct 25, 16:01
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NotHappyJan
192 posts
Oct 26, 02:04
Report commentRosythlover.....what makes you think you are the righteous one? Who are you to judge? All you are doing is proving my point!
Recommend? Yes 9
No 13
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jesstd
34 posts
Oct 26, 17:04
Report commentThe council should impose a "booze tax" and use this to pay for the impact on the rest of us and to hike up prices to ensure that idiots drink within their means. If you injure yourself or fall ill on a Friday or Saturday night, then you might as well wait until Sunday or Monday because of the impact on A&E services of binge drinking and violence. Alternatively, build a "drunk tank" which locks people up with a blanket and basic medical care until they are sober, rather than kid-gloves treatment.
Recommend? Yes 10
No 1
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kaka30
309 posts
Oct 27, 09:07
Report commentThats a great idea jesstd, infact why dont we bring back good old USA style 30s prohabition ?
Were you never young ?
Recommend? Yes 2
No 8
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jesstd
34 posts
Oct 27, 09:14
Report commentA little bit different when I was young ... the pubs closed earlier (not 11pm, I'm not that old) and booze was relatively more expensive, in pubs and off-sales. Dunfermline and Edinburgh certainly had fewer pubs and this was before the mega-pubs, although it isn't much fun standing shoulder-to-shoulder and queuing at the bar for ages in smaller pubs. I get slightly annoyed at the softly-softly approach we take to excess drinkers, through support and toleration, especially when this impacts on A&E services. It doesn't really encourage learning from mistakes, which is part of life, and people who can't 'handle it' should not be drinking that much. In the past their money ran out before they fell over...
Recommend? Yes 16
No 0
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triskel
257 posts
Oct 27, 11:32
Report commentWe live in a country dominated by warmongers and drug-pushers. When I say drugs I mean salt, sugar, fat, alcohol and nicotine as well as "anti-depressants". Once we have all agreed on that we can get rid of the exploiters and abusers in our midst!
Recommend? Yes 6
No 17
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NotHappyJan
192 posts
Oct 27, 21:44
Report commenttriskel you are so right. I think your comments may have upset a known serial abuser to these pages that loves Rosyth. I am sure she/he is addicted to all of the above. I pity them!
Recommend? Yes 5
No 17
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******
Oct 28, 00:30
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******
Oct 28, 14:22
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