The media likes to talk of the January blues and named the 3rd Monday in January "Blue" Monday - but not at Samaritans.
We know the power of a cuppa for lifting the spirits, and it's even better when you can sit down with a mate, colleague or just someone you're a bit concerned about for a chat over a brew.
To encourage people to do just that our Banbury Samaritans volunteers were out bright and early to hand out special tea bags at Banbury Station on 19th. There were smiles and chats a plenty - so much so we ran out of tea!! Thanks as always for making us so welcome.
Scamp with her human volunteer
Busy February
Members of the Banbury Sams team attended the annual Samaritans Regional Conference for East Midlands Branches and held this year in Northampton.
The day was informative and entertaining with guest speakers and plenty of time to compare notes with volunteers from other branches.
February is also an interview month when we start the process of finding new recruits to start training in March. Thanks go to all those involved and the enthusiasm of those who applied and are now hard at work studying, role playing and getting to know each other.
March thank yous
March is another important month in the Samaritans calendar with the Small Talk Saves Lives campaign - a simple message that can have a massive impact. Starting a conversation with someone who looks as though they might be going through a difficult time could literally save their life. We gave out listening tips cards at both Banbury and Bicester North Stations with ideas for "small talk" - simply a remark about the weather, asking if there's somewhere to get a coffee etc breaks into their thoughts and provides a distraction.
We've also had some help with fundraising starting with local police officer, Dan House, who is also the partner of one of our volunteers, who decided to run the Rome Marathon and raise money for us. It turned out that Dan is something of a dark horse and he completed the race in under 4 hours and raised over £2,000 in the process - what a hero. And is if that wasn't enough, after the race he proposed to Abi, his partner - and she said YES!
And to round off a busy first three months of the year, we were selected for Brackley Waitrose Green Tokens scheme and thanks to their amazing customers we came second which meant a donation of £1,000. Thank you to everyone who made it possible.