'Heartbreaking': Worthing Samaritans volunteers devastated by closure
Volunteers at Worthing Samaritans, which has served the town for decades, have described the branch’s impending closure as ‘heartbreaking’.
The Lennox Road branch, which has been part of the local community for 57 years, will close at the end of November, along with its charity shop in Strand Parade, Goring.
More than 100 volunteers were informed of the decision during an online meeting on Monday night (October 19), which Carol Collis described as ‘emotionally traumatic’.
Carol, who has volunteered for the Samaritans for 15 years, said: “Most of us were crying. It was a huge shock. It’s like having your insides ripped out.”
Last year, Worthing Samaritans took more than 20,500 calls from people in need of support.
Vanessa Hamilton, Samaritans’ assistant director of service delivery (South), said the decision to close the branch was made ‘as part of our ongoing efforts to build a more sustainable service for the future’.
She said: “Over the next decade, we are moving to fewer, larger branches across the UK and while we deeply value our volunteers, our ultimate duty is to service-users.
“Our Future Proofing programme is modernising our service so that, for example, more efficient shift planning will mean more volunteers on duty at key times and less of the admin that can keep senior volunteers from answering calls, all of which will help sustain our life-saving listening service.”
The charity’s central office said the closure ‘was not a financial decision’, but ‘follows careful analysis of the branch's location’.
However, Worthing volunteers have questioned the charity’s ‘Future Proofing’ strategy and said they don’t understand why their branch has been chosen to close.
Liz Holland said: “We're a self-sufficient branch financially. We don't cost central office anything.”
Carol added: “I’ve read [the strategy] a million times. I don’t think I’m stupid, but I still don’t understand it.”
Mark White, vice director of Worthing Samaritans, described the situation as a ‘postcode lottery’.
“It’s not about what you offer our callers, it’s about where you are,” he said.
“For an organisation that is all supposed to be about empathy, sympathy, compassion, and listening, I would suggest that they've done none of that.
“I have felt none of that from them at all.”
The closure means Brighton will become the nearest branch for Worthing volunteers.
The Samaritans said the city’s larger population offers ‘greater volunteer recruitment opportunities in the long-term’. But none of the 19 volunteers interviewed by the Worthing Herald felt Brighton was a realistic option for them.
“Brighton might be, geographically, 10 miles away, but it’s not an easy journey,” Carol said.
“We have volunteers who are in their eighties. We have people who arrive on mobility scooters. To say ‘just go to Brighton’... It isn’t that simple for everyone.”
Mark added: “If we wanted to go to Brighton, we'd join the Brighton branch. But it’s about being local. This branch has been built on donations from people from Worthing, because they’ve seen the volunteers out on the street, doing outreach and taking calls, being part of the community.”
Volunteers fear the closure could mean longer waiting times for people seeking support.
Liz said: “That isn’t going to improve if you take away over 100 volunteers. We’re seen as almost a fourth emergency service.”
The central office said the ‘gradual closure’ of individual branches won’t affect wait times ‘as demand is managed nationally’.
Carol added: “People are so stressed in the community. It doesn’t make sense to us to strip out a whole pool of volunteers.”
For the team at Worthing Samaritans, the closure also means losing a close-knit community they have come to see as family.
“We support each other here,” Carol said. “We’re able to leave some really heavy stuff in this building.”
A petition to stop the closure of the Worthing branch has been signed by more than 3,000 people. To add your signature, visit: www.change.org/p/stop-the-closure-of-worthing-samaritans
Samaritans provides free, confidential emotional support and suicide prevention services 24 hours a day, all year round. Anyone who needs support can call its national helpline on 116 123.