Our History

SAMARITANS was founded in London by the Rev. Chad Varah in 1953.

Weston super Mare branch was founded in 1971 under the umbrella of Bristol branch which had been in operation since 1964. In April 1971 the Rotary Club of Weston called a meeting of interested people to discuss the formation of a Samaritans Befriending Group. This meeting was attended by representatives from numerous organisations and individuals from the local area. As a result of this exploratory meeting we opened our first Centre in Oxford Street with just twelve volunteers manning the phones every evening from 7.30–10.30.

From these small beginnings our volunteer numbers grew (as did the number of distressed callers contacting us) so we were compelled to move to larger premises at 137a High Street, our present location, where we can be contacted most times during every day.

In 1985 Weston super Mare Samaritans came out from under Bristol’s umbrella and became a branch in its own right, with its own Director.

Throughout the years we have relied wholly on volunteers to operate the Centre. As well as the core work of answering phones, replying to emails and seeing visitors, the volunteers maintain all outreach activities, in prisons (we support a Listeners’ scheme at Shepton Mallet prison), in schools, clubs and organisations etc. It is also the volunteers who do the fundraising to support these activities as we receive no funding from either local or national government.