Samaritans Go Green

Last Wednesday saw the Mayor of Taunton Deane, Cllr. Catherine Herbert, visiting the Wood Street branch branch of Samaritans of Taunton and Somerset, in recognition of their 50^th anniversary year. 

Pictured with Director Bob Cornes and Deputy Director Jackie Steele, the Mayor was able to meet the volunteers on duty and see the newly painted front door, now easily recognised as it is painted in Samaritan green!  

Bob explained “We wanted to brighten up the entry to the branch, making it stand out so that anyone can easily identify where we are in Wood Street. We are open to welcome callers from 9am to 9pm every single day of the year, without the need to make an appointment, whenever they need the support of one of our volunteers.”

The Mayor heard how the volunteers also offer emotional support on the phone, email and text to anyone in distress. The branch had received over 35,000 contacts during the last 12 months. 

For anyone interested in volunteering the branch holds an Information evening at 7pm on the first Thursday of every month at 16 Wood Street. “It is challenging but incredibly rewarding voluntary work.” said Bob, “Anyone with an interest in people and a caring nature can apply to join us at this exciting time in our history.”

SAMARITANS OF TAUNTON & SOMERSET clock up 500,000 volunteer hours in 50 years

SAMARITANS OF TAUNTON & SOMERSET held their Annual General Meeting at Trull village last week, celebrating their 50^th year of providing valuable emotional support to those in need.

In welcoming supporters, listening volunteers and guests, including Cllr. Julie Fowler, Mayor of Ilminster, Director Bob Cornes said, ‘As we look back over all those years, we can reflect on a proud history of service to our local community and to the wider Samaritan organisation. I have calculated that our local volunteers have contributed over half a million hours of their own time offering emotional support to those who needed it.  What an extraordinary achievement.’

This year of celebration has been marked by a number of excellent events across the area, including dinner at Somerset County Cricket Club, with many more to come during the latter part of the year.

Although fundraising was not at the forefront when planning the celebrations, money was raised through the ‘Samaritans 50 Club’.

During the meeting, special thanks was given to long serving volunteers, many of whom had been working with Samaritans for over 20 years, as well as loyal supporters from Wiveliscombe, who held a splendid 50^th Anniversary Dinner, raising over £1,000.  

Earlier this year the branch had a ‘Visit’ (the Samaritans equivalent of an OFSTED inspection) and were delighted to have received the verdict ‘The Branch Leadership Team together with all the volunteers make this an outstanding branch, supporting callers as well as each other. Every volunteer should be proud to be a member of Taunton Samaritans.’ 

   

In addition to traditional volunteer activities, which now include texting and emailing as well as listening, during a busy year, local Samaritans have been working with the occupational health staff at Hinkley Point, developed a partnership with GP surgeries to offer calls to patients and spoken to staff at every Jobcentre in Somerset to make them aware of the support that can be offered.

Samaritans of Somerset & Taunton have also been part of a county-wide committee to set up an emergency emotional support system in the event of a major disaster and provided support to schools in the aftermath of a suicide, continuing to be at the forefront of the ‘Postvention Scheme’, as well as attending the Recovery in the Park event at Lyngford park for recovering drug and alcohol addicts.

The team continue to offer talks to local schools and other organisations, and in total during the last 12 months answered 35,000 calls, 2000 emails and 2000 text messages.

Samaritans’ core purpose is to support anyone who is struggling and who needs to talk, and will be there 24/7, with the help of its amazing volunteers who give up their time to make a real difference to the lives of callers.

Why not join us? Want to find out more? Then get in touch.

Local helpline - 01823 288 998 (local call charges apply)

National free phone: 116 123

Email Samaritans: jo@samaritans.org

Visit: 16 Wood Street, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 1UN 9:00am - 9:00pm (no appt. needed)

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PRESENTATION?

I attend an awful lot of meetings, in addition to a number of conferences and workshops. By their very nature these events often involve experts, lecturers and industry spokespeople giving presentations.

To make the most of my time, and the cost of attending these events, I am keen to get as much out of the sessions on offer as possible.

In measuring the success of such events, in terms of the balance between my time and the knowledge and inspiration gained, the topics to be covered are usually, on the surface at least, interesting. Oh, how I wish that remained the case. On almost all occasions I am left frustrated and disappointed.

I do a fair bit of public speaking and presenting myself. Although I am far from perfect, I like to think that I understand, and have gained a degree of competence, in getting to grips with the basics of what makes a good presentation; especially when it comes to using visual slides (their quantity, quality and content), engaging and gauging the response of my audience, pacing myself, and keeping to time.

The advent of increasingly sophisticated technology, has its downside, bringing with it the danger of ‘Death by Powerpoint’. Sadly, this is all too evident, even at the most sophisticated events, with high level international speakers. One speaker recently attempted to cover his topic with 34 slides(?!) in the 12-minute slot allocated, many of which had quite complicated equations and statistical notations; he failed miserably in getting across the key points in a concise and meaningful way.

At a recent international event, even with many of the presentations being held in tandem, I managed to sit in on 37 different sessions; despite having lost the will to live by the end of the first morning. The standard of speakers was, almost without exception, truly appalling. I only wish this was the exception rather than the norm.

What I fail to understand is why it is, that if someone is representing an organisation, and presumably hoping to influence an audience, they pay scant attention to the quality and content of what they are delivering. 

Prior preparation does almost always prevent poor performance, and most of us have access to support in the form of someone who can offer an objective view on the content and clarity. I prefer to speak without notes, as I feel that the delivery is stilted when a script is used, but if asked to present for a certain length of time I always check my timings; for me, it is a point of pride to get it right. If the option is available, one of the best ways to assess one’s performance is to be video-d; a sobering experience if ever there was one, as you see yourself waving your arms around, scratching your head and ‘umming’ for all it is worth!   

It may be stating the obvious, but it is apparent that those with academic clout and who hold positions of high esteem do not always make the best speakers or presenters.

It is an art, one that I am striving to master.