We've had a busy start to the year after the excitement of our 50th anniversary with our first outreach and awareness event on 20th January which is also known as "Brew Monday".
Our dedicated team were out from 6.00 am at Banbury Station greeting travellers and staff with bright smiles, tea bags and some amazing cupcakes specially made and donated by Chiltern Railways. We had some great conversations and handed out over 1,000 tea bags and contact cards.
These delicious cupcakes were very popular!
On 10th February our Talks Team were meeting members of the Banbury Women's Institute explaining the work of Samaritans, how they can support us or volunteer with us.
March has also been busy with another visit to Banbury Station on 4th for Small Talk Saves Lives. This is an annual, national, 3 week long campaign encouraging people passing through stations to be alert for someone who might seem to be distressed, sitting for a long time on the platform without catching a train or otherwise making you feel a little concerned. We gave out lots of our campaign cards with conversation starters and encouraging the public to practice small talk - it's amazing how just interrupting someone's thought processes can be enough to make a big difference. Look out for us at Bicester North Station on 24th April for our final Small Talk visit.
Two of our volunteers wrapped up warm for the early start
To top off the first quarter our Training Team welcomed a new intake of volunteers who started their Samaritans journey on 5th March with their first Core training session. Many thanks to them for enrolling as volunteers, our Selection Team, trainers and mentors.
Everyone involved in providing the Samaritans service at Banbury & District Branch is a volunteer, from our Branch Director, Deputy Directors, Treasurer, Secretary, shift leaders, etc and we rely entirely on donations to keep the branch open. If you'd like to make a donation go to www.samaritans.org/banbury and click on the "Donate now" button at the top of the page.