SKIPTON Street Angels held their sixth annual commissioning service at the town's St Andrew’s Church.

The service was led by the Rev Richard Atkinson, Methodist Superintendent, and the preacher was the rector of Holy Trinity, the Rev Veronica James.

Several new recruits were welcomed and certificates for five years’ service were awarded to Richard Atkinson, Wendy Clark, Ann Horner, John Nixon, Maggs Oakden, Mike Perry and Angela Walls.

Town mayor Cllr John Dawson thanked the Street Angels on behalf of the community.

Special guests at the service were Paul Blakey and his wife, Jean. Paul is the founder of Street Angels UK and Christian Nightlife Initiatives Network (CNI).

He presented copies of his book, Street Angels, to Cllr Dawson and Mr Richard Atkinson. It contains a section on Skipton Street Angels, written by Gordon Williamson, and shows how Skipton is part of an exciting and growing international initiative.

Eileen Appleby, the founder of Skipton Street Angels, shared some thoughts on being a Street Angel. One colleague had remarked it was like putting a smile on the face of the High Street on Saturday night.

She thanked everyone for their continuing support and invited anyone interested in joining Street Angels to get in touch via skiptonchurches.org.uk/streetangels