CHARD Street Pastors will be kept in the loop from this week – thanks to a donation for new radios.

The town’s police force received £1,000 funding through the Safer Somerset Partnership to buy four town link radios, which were presented to the pastors on Thursday.

The Safer Somerset Partnership is a group of agencies in the county working together as a single Community Safety Partnership in order to tackle crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour, and to reduce re-offending.

The radios were used for the first time at the weekend and proved a handy tool of communication, not just for the pastors, but also for their links with the police and the pubs in the town.

PC Paul Thomas, beat manager of Chard police, said: “We were keen to support them and we knew they had an issue with communicating with each other – they have been borrowing radios from the station until now.

“We saw funding was available from the Safer Somerset Partnership and applied on behalf of the Street Pastors and it went from there.

“The radios also allow them to communicate with our PCSOs and helps us work in co-operation with one another – the police working hand in hand with the street pastors.”

Nat Thomson, of Chard Street Pastors, said: “We’d like to thank the police and the Safer Somerset Partnership for their support.

“We have been in Chard now for ten months – and we are all from in and around the Chard area looking to help the community.

“This is another way we can help.”