A wonderful table has been created with great skill and care by David, one of the Listeners at Long Lartin, to mark our branch's 60th anniversary year.
Cheltenham and District Samaritans supports the Listener scheme, which trains prisoners to provide emotional support to their peers. September 2021 saw the 30th anniversary of the Listener scheme, and members of our branch leadership team attended a celebratory event with the listeners at Long Lartin prison.
At this event, one of the Listeners, David, offered to make a table to celebrate the branch's 60th anniversary. David had previously worked in the woodwork workshop, and was given permission by the prisoner governor to start work on this gift.
An extraordinary amount of time and skill went into the creation of this table, which was delivered to the branch in February. It has been put in pride of place in the operations room, where branch volunteers can use it while waiting for the start of their shift, and when offloading to their leader at the end of a listening shift.
Our branch director, Andy, enjoying the new table