Samaritans of Havering

A brief history of Samaritans in Havering

Eleven years after Chad Varah set up the first Samaritan centre at St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London, it was decided to open a branch in Havering in order to make that same befriending service more widely available still.

The original Romford 40000 number did however have to serve the whole of the Havering, Redbridge and Barking boroughs, and also the Brentwood area. Fortunately, branches were opened at Redbridge and Chelmsford within the next three years.

The Havering branch first opened on 1st February, 1965.

There were many changes in the early years; not least four changes of address:

• from the place where the branch first opened at 69 Western Road, to
• premises in the Old Library at the top of Romford market place, where we stayed for only a couple of years
• before relocating in 1968, via a short stay in temporary premises in a second floor office suite in South Street, to

• 107 North Street, which in its first years we shared with the Havering Council of Social Service and the Christian Fellowship "Toc H".

The branch is now wholly owned and run by Samaritans of Havering. We are a registered charity ( No. 234992) and rely on kind donations from the public and charitable organisations to keep open.

One of the small, comfortable visitor rooms within the branch, where callers can sit and talk with Samaritans face-to-face.