Ealing had a very special visitor this week: Dave Matthews, who’s undertaking an epic 6,000-mile trek on foot to visit all of the 201 Samaritans branches in the UK and Ireland.
After covering 4,200 miles, Dave today reached the Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow branch of Samaritans and was congratulated by local Samaritans volunteers, including local director Heena Johnson pictured second left).
She said: “Dave’s walk symbolises the passion and the commitment of the Samaritans volunteers which have allowed us to stay open throughout the pandemic to provide confidential emotional support for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair.”
The South Ealing-based Samaritans branch was the 141st to be visited by Dave in his Listening Walk which began in April 2019 and aims to raise £100,000 for the charity. After being obliged to stop in April 2020 because of the various lockdown restrictions he restarted his odyssey in December 2020.
Dave told the Ealing, Hammersmith & Hounslow volunteers: “I’ve been humbled by the reaction I’ve had from people all over the UK who’ve reminded me that what we’re doing is so important.”
Following his stop in Ealing after some nine million steps of his journey, Dave left on foot to visit the Samaritans branch in Putney.
Donate here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidMatthews
Dave’s journey can be followed via The Listening Walk on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/over6000miles/ @WalkListening on Twitter and http://thelisteningwalk.co.uk/.