Samaritans of Portsmouth charity to celebrate milestone 60th birthday at London Road branch

Portsmouth Samaritans, who work to help people facing emotional distress or at risk of suicide, will hold a party at their London Road centre to mark the branch’s 60th anniversary this Sunday (June 12).

More than 100 people volunteer at the branch and between them they answer about 1,200 telephone calls a month to give emotional support to those in distress.

Branch director, Helen Puckett, said: ‘We are looking forward to celebrating this significant birthday for our branch, and 60 years of helping others.

‘A lot of things have changed over the last 60 years. We now support people by email, and are working on offering a web chat service. But the core of the our service has notchanged at all. We help people in emotional distress by giving them a safe place to talk through whatever itis that’s troubling them. Our service is confidential, and we never judge or criticise our callers.’

The Samaritans of Portsmouth and East Hampshire branch supports vulnerable people across Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham, Petersfield, Havant, Hayling Island and Liss.

Helen added: ‘We have to raise money to cover all the costs of keeping our branch open. I’d like to thank all the Portsmouth people who have supported us over the years, and helped us to keep our branch open so we can carry on supporting those in need.’

The charity is looking for people to join their team of volunteers.so they can reach ‘even more’ people.

Visit Samaritans of Portsmouth and East Hampshire for more information.