On 1st June 1959, the first Samaritans call to be answered outside of London, was taken by the Edinburgh branch. Today we are celebrating 65 years of listening and our volunteers.
On the 1st June 1959, the first Samaritans call was taken by a volunteer in Edinburgh. When the phone was answer, the first caller said Happy Birthday before spending their time talking about their feelings.
The call marked was the first Samaritans Call to be taken outside London, with Edinburgh becoming the second branch in the UK. The organisation had been founded in 1953, by Chad Varah, who was a minister at St. Stephen’s Church, London. Today, there are 202 branches within the UK and Ireland
In its first year our branch recorded 550 calls in the year, last year we took just under 25,000 contacts from people looking for emotional support.
“I’m immensely proud to be director at the point where we mark this milestone in our branch’s history. This anniversary belongs to our volunteers, both past and present, who have been there to listen to our callers throughout the years. It is their dedication which has allowed us to be part of the Edinburgh Community for 65 years. And we’ve changed during this time, moving from the centre of town to Torphichen Street. We now have a brilliant Charity shop in Nicholson Street, which opened 4 years ago, and has provided a different way for people to volunteer with us. We will be having a toast and some cake on Saturday, and we hope to hold more events throughout the year to mark this milestone.”
Julia, Edinburgh Director