History

The branch was actually born out of the concerns of some local ministers in Maesteg in 1972. Led by Rev. Pryderi Llwyd Jones they discussed the deprivation in the valleys and the resultant family problems. At one of their meetings they decided to contact the Samaritans in Swansea to see if they would support the setting up of a branch of the Samaritans in Maesteg.

Swansea branch were enthusiastic provided that there was support locally for the project. A note was put in the local paper requesting that anybody who was interested should attend a public meeting.

The meeting was sparsely attended but those who did were very enthusiastic about the idea. Those first volunteers had to travel to Swansea to fulfill their training and begin doing duties, as at this time there was no building for the volunteers to use in Maesteg.

The next stage was to find a building, so they approached Maesteg Town Council to see if they could provide something for them. The council at Maesteg were also concerned about the situation within the valley and decided to offer one of their houses at Station Hill in the town as a base for the new branch.

After some decoration the house was ready to be used and on 30th June 1973 the branch was formally opened by the regional representative together with the director of Swansea and officials of the Maesteg Council.

Volunteers were trained by Swansea branch and divided their duties between Swansea and Maesteg. The branch was only open between 7.00pm and 10.00 pm.

At this time we were not a full branch and as such didn't have a director, but a Senior leader was appointed. He was Mr. H. Roy Mitchell.

Our secretary was Stan Stephens and he was responsible for organising fund raising events, volunteer interviews and liaising with Swansea branch for volunteer preparation.

Some volunteers began to realise that there wouldn't be enough work in Maesteg to justify going 24 hour which was the hope for the future of the branch. To achieve this it was felt that the branch had to move to a more central location in Mid-Glamorgan and the obvious choice from Maesteg was Bridgend. This was a difficult decision to take but one that  was inevitable. So, in the spring of 1975 we moved to Wyndham street in Bridgend. We were fortunate to have a volunteer by the name of Bill Edwards who was a local solicitor and through his expert knowledge located an office in a building that until recently housed the Wimpey bar, but was an opticians at that time.

We extended our availablity to 12 hours per day. The branch continued to grow and eventually attained 24 hour availability status and we appointed our first Director. The obvious choice was Stan Stephens who was the senior leader and who had worked so hard in Maesteg. He was well supported by his wife, Maggs, who not only supported him but also was a hard working volunteer, carrying out volunteer preparation and became involved in all matters supporting the branch.

We moved from Wyndham street in about 1978  to a house on Coity road. Here we stayed until 1988 when we moved to our current premises in Green street. In that time the branch has continued its 24 hour, 365 days a year listening service.