Sutton Street Pastors is celebrating 10 years of making the borough safer.

The charitable volunteers behind the group have been patrolling the high street on weekends helping those get home and looking after others.

Mark Tomlinson, 55, of Newstead Walk, is one of the group's founding members and has seen the Pastors' number grow by more than five times since its inception.

He said: "We started in 2005, we work in partnership with Safer Sutton which is also having its 10th anniversary.

"The reason we set up the Pastors was to reduce crime and in particular the fear of crime.

"We wear uniforms and have highly visible presence.

"All Pastors are trained to help people, part of the way we operate is to be non-judgemental. We are there to help people home if they have got into difficulty."

When the group first started there were only eight members, taking to Sutton's town centre every other Friday.

Today their numbers have swelled to 46, which has enabled them to increase their patrols fourfold.

The group, which is formed from volunteers from 20 different multi denominational churches, ranging from the Church of England to Roman Catholic, works with the Safer Sutton and Sutton Council's licensing team. They attend the monthly Pubwatch meetings so when there are problems, problems can be dealt with.

Mr Tomlinson said: "We used to go out every other Friday night.

"Now we are out every Friday and Saturday night."

He says there are two reasons for the group's growth. The first is concerned parents and grandparents who just want to make sure their children and grandchildren have somewhere safe to go out, and the other is residents wanting to make Sutton a safer, friendlier place.

Mr Tomlinson said: "There is a big need for what we do on Fridays and Saturdays.

"We often help people who have had too much to drink and need a taxi home or looking after.

"There is a need to be out there because the pubs and clubs a open on Fridays and Saturdays.

"There have changes though over the last couple of years. There has been the impact because of the recession which has changed the patterns of going out.

"People don't go out Friday and Saturday now, instead they go out Friday or Saturday.

"When we first started there were three clubs in Sutton and now there are two so there has been an impact on the night time economy.

"People still get drunk and there are still altercations but we are seeing fewer. There are still some problems but there are fewer."