Samaritans at 60
Hastings and Rother Samaritans reflect on their work 60 years on
It’s 1963. The Beatles are no.1 in the charts, the first episode of Dr Who has just been screened, the Great Train Robbery has hit the headlines, Ford Anglia is on the production lines, and beer costs 10p a pint. After the longest, snowiest winter in decades, in a small wind-rocked caravan parked in Glyne Gap, sits a Samaritans volunteer. The black Bakelite phone rings and she picks up the receiver and says, “Samaritans. Can I help you?”
Fast forward 60 years. There is no Top 40, Dr Who is a woman, Ford produce electric cars and beer is £4.39 a pint. The caravan is gone but in a converted terraced house in Hastings sits a Samaritans volunteer. The telephone-line rings, she presses a button, speaks into the microphone of her headset and says, “Samaritans. Can I help you?”
In those 60 years since the humble beginnings of Hastings and Rother Samaritans, the world has changed, but the commitment of Samaritans volunteers has not. The need for people in distress to talk to someone has not. The service Samaritans offer has not. They believe that empathic listening in confidence, without pressing judgement, opinion or advice, is of great significance and can truly help people find their own solutions and move forward.
This year, the local branch is celebrating its 60 birthday since those days in the chilly caravan at Glyne Gap. The present branch in St Andrews Square is now paperless, high tech and digital, and has some 65 active volunteers who give freely of at least four hours of their time each week, in both day and night shifts, so they can be part of the 24/7, 365 days a year service that the national charity offers to those going through tough times.
Why do they do it? One of the longest serving branch volunteers (nearly 40 years!) said, “ I hope I’ve made a difference. We may not have solved anything, but we can be there when someone is at their lowest, when they feel they have no one they can turn to who will listen. Then after talking, there’s a chink of light, and they can see a way forwards”.
60 years of the amazing commitment and dedication of the Hastings and Rother Samaritans is truly worth celebrating – look out for the giant birthday cake in Hastings Carnival!
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Wonderful to read this. Such a. Need for an organisation like this in this day & age.