Newbury MP Laura Farris meets volunteers during a visit to Newbury's Samaritans

Volunteers at the Samaritans have been sharing their experiences with Newbury MP Laura Farris.

Mrs Farris visited the charity’s Newbury base, in West Street, where she met branch director, Andrew Melsom, and five volunteers.

They also told her how they are always on the look out for new volunteers – with training being held locally for 28 people every spring and autumn.

“I really enjoyed meeting the volunteers at Newbury Samaritans and hearing about the work they do, and the challenges of the role,” Mrs Farris said. “Although located in Newbury they take calls from across the UK and illustrated the enormous value an anonymous supportive voice at the end of the line can provide.”

The team of 120 local volunteers – a number of whom have been with the charity for more than 25 years – provides more than 400 hours of emotional support on the phone every week. Every month there is one 24 hour duty and the branch hope to increase that number in the future.

The calls they answer come from anywhere across the country and they said anonymity is key to allowing callers to open up.

Mrs Farris asked the group why they decided to volunteer for the organisation and everyone had their own personal story.

They said a large number of calls involve loneliness and mental health issues.

Volunteers do not need to have any particular qualifications, just be good at listening and non-judgemental.

“Giving advice is hammered out of you during training,” explained Mr Melsom. “You just have to listen.

“I have definitely learnt to listen more since doing this.”

The volunteers all agreed that it was great when they were able to listen to someone who then worked out a solution to their problems for themselves.

“They leave the call with a plan,” said one volunteer. “That’s the aim for everyone, to figure it out for themselves.”

Anyone wishing to volunteer will be required to carry out six training sessions across six weeks.

If you would like to find out more about volunteering for the Samaritans you can contact the Newbury branch by emailing newbury.branchrecruitment@samaritans.org

If you need to contact the Samaritans visit www.samaritans.org – call 116 123 – email jo@samaritans.org