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2022-03-31-accounts

Annual Report and Accounts April 2021 - March 2022

Contents

Contents
Objectives 4
Report from the Branch Director 6
Structure, Governance and Management 8
Statement of Trustees Responsibilities 9
Income and Expenditure 10
Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2022 11
Notes to the Accounts 12
Analysis of Fundraising 13
Analysis of Expenditure 13
Financial Review 14
Independent Examiners Report 15
The Role of the Volunteer 16
Statistics 17
Caller Support 18
Leaders 19
Outreach 21
Prison Listening 24
Recruitment and Selection 26
Training 27
Volunteer Care and Support 28

2 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Bridgend Samaritans

Registered Charity Number: 1170848 Registered Address: Bridgend Samaritans, 2 Green Street, Bridgend, CF31 1HF Website: www.samaritans.org/bridgend The Trustees of Bridgend Samaritans as of 31st March 2022: Director & Chair of Trustees: Ms. C. Pearcey Secretary: Mrs. M. Thalayasingam Treasurer: Miss C. Wellings Trustees Mrs. J.L. Griffiths Mr. A. Marshall Mrs. W. Xerri Bankers: Lloyds Bank plc, East Ham Branch Independent Examiner: Mr. P. Whiting Solicitors: David & Snape Call us: 116 123 0808 164 0123 – Welsh language line Write to us: Freepost SAMARITAN LETTERS Email us: jo@samaritans.org Visit Bridgend Branch: 2 Green Street Bridgend CF31 1HF

3 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Objectives

Samaritans provide completely confidential emotional support 24 hours a day every day by telephone, face to face, e-mail, letter and text and outside our branches at festivals, prisons, hospitals, schools, workplaces and with the homeless, through a network of 201 branches in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Our purpose is to:

Enable persons who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those who may be at risk of suicide, to receive confidential emotional support at any time of the day or night from appropriately trained Samaritans in order to improve their emotional health and to reduce the incidence of suicidal feelings; and

Promote a better understanding in society of suicide, suicidal behaviour and the value of expressing feelings which may otherwise lead to suicide or impaired emotional health. This is reflected in Samaritans Mission, Vision and Values statements.

4 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

5 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Report from the Branch Director

I am so proud to be able to write this report again this year, the final year of my tenure as Director of such a devoted branch of volunteers.

Well, we came out the other side! I’m sure I will be amongst quite a few other Directors around the UK that will probably be known as the ‘Covid Directors’ for quite some time!

My first AGM as Director in 2020 saw an unprecedented and successful online meeting via Zoom! We then found ourselves needing to do it again the following year, so it is such a pleasure to be able to welcome volunteers, donors, and partners alike, to our first face to face AGM since 2019

Throughout my tenure, although Covid challenged us persistently, I have been lucky enough to be supported by an amazing leadership team.

Again, this year, we have manged to meet around 80% of our shifts regularly and consistently thanks to a dedicated team of over 100 volunteers: listening and support volunteers.

At Bridgend we continued to make some adjustments to ensure the safety and well-being of our volunteers, thanks to generous donations received from the public and some very generous grants.

We were fortunate to receive a significant donation from Coychurch Crematorium, Bridgend, which has ensured we remain fully functional and available to callers and also some important upgrades within the branch.

We have grown and maintained the number of our listening volunteers to well over 100. Recognition and thanks need to be handed to the Selection, Training, and Mentoring teams for helping us achieve this. The current level of active listeners has made it simpler both for the Rota team and the Leadership team to ensure we fulfil our shift requirements.

Bridgend has always been a flagship for Samaritans with our outreach work, offering a strong presence both locally and in support of national events across Wales. Unfortunately, this halted for the duration of the pandemic. We are so happy to have finally started to recommence some of these activities and grateful for a grant from Great Western Railways to help train and update over 20 volunteers in readiness.

The Welsh Language Line has been running smoothly with regular evening shifts across Wales, of which Bridgend is proud to be a part of. I thank the Welsh speakers for their efforts and for keeping the Welsh Language Line shifts open at Bridgend.

I am so honoured to be a member of this branch. Volunteers’ whose dedication and generous donation of time has enabled us to grow the amount of support we are able to offer our callers and we now look forward to the ever-evolving services we provide to our callers, with Bridgend looking forward to commencing online chat service to ensure callers have many channels in which they can speak to a Samaritan.

My final thanks are to our donors, supporters, partners and of course each and every volunteer for all that they do and especially to my team of deputy directors whose support has meant that I could continue to work full-time, keep my family happy, and has helped to

6 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

ensure the continuing success of the branch. Without their support I would have been unable to undertake my role.

Whilst it has been challenging on times, I can honestly say it has been rewarding as well as an honour and a privilege to serve the branch as Director for the last 3 years and although I look forward to my sabbatical, I also look forward to returning to the fold under the new Directorship of Penny and her team and take relish in handing over the reins to a worthy successor.

Thank you to everyone for your unwavering support and encouragement and best wishes to Penny and her team.

Gabby, Bridgend Branch Director

Refurbished Volunteer Rest Room

“Abbie’s Room”

New chairs for the Training Room

7 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Structure, Governance and Management

Samaritans is a charitable company limited by guarantee. It was incorporated as a company on 11th April 1963, having been founded by Prebendary Dr. Chad Varah on 2nd November 1953.

In addition to the charitable company, the organisation as a whole includes 201 Samaritan branches, including Bridgend, operating in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The branches are either incorporated charities affiliated to Samaritans, each of which is a separate charitable organisation, or are part of Samaritans Central Charity.

Samaritans is governed by a Board of Trustees of between 10 and 15 members, a majority of whom must be volunteers in Samaritans branches. The Board is supported by both staff and volunteers serving as Regional Directors, Regional Officers and Functional Leads.

The Trustees are also directors of the company and are appointed by the Nominations Committee - apart from the Chair, who is appointed by the Board of Trustees, following an appointment process overseen by the Nominations Committee.

Trustees can serve a maximum of six years, or up to eight years in the case of a Chair who has already served as a Trustee. The Board meets at least four times a year.

Regional Councils , comprising of the Branch Director and Regional Director from each region, advise and guide the board.

Although the Trustees are responsible for directing the affairs of the charity, much of the dayto-day operational activity is delegated to staff at Samaritans Central Charity (SCC), led by our Executive Leadership Team .

8 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Statement of Trustees Responsibilities

Bridgend Samaritans Branch Trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the charity and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period.

In preparing those accounts, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records, which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention of fraud and other irregularities.

Approved by the Trustees on 29th May 2022.

C. Wellings …………………………………………………………………………… Treasurer

C. Pearcey …………………………………………………………………………. Director

Bridgend Samaritans

2 Green Street

Bridgend

CF31 1HF

9 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Income and Expenditure

Income and Expenditure Income and Expenditure Income and Expenditure Income and Expenditure Income and Expenditure
2021/22
Income
Unrestricted Designated
Fundraising
36,824
-
Bank interest
23-
36,847
-
Cost of Generating Funds
Fund Raising Cost
428
-
Net Income Resources36,419
-
Expenditure
Advertising
-

Publicity
2,467
Utilities
1,744

Insurance
1,919
Travel/Mileage
2,490
Subsistence
-
Volunteer Care
548

Training
-

Printing & Photocopying
73
Postage & Carriage
177

Office Stationery
-
Telephone & Broadband
1,450
Office Equipment & Supplies
5,240

Restricted funds Expended
-
Premises Expenses
1,402

Cleaning
4,048
Vehicle Expenses
918
Refurbishment
-
Memberships
35
Branch Contributions
5,286
Depreciation
-
27,797
Surplus/Deficit for year
8,622		 2020/21
Restricted
Total
Total
2,150
38,974
29,808
-
23
62
36,847
428		 -
-		 2,150
38,997 29,870
-
428 548
36,419 - 2,150
38,569
29,322
-
2,467
1,744
1,919
2,490
-
548
-
73
177
-
1,450
5,240
-
1,402
4,048
918
-
35
5,286
-
27,797






-
-
2,467
698
1,744
2,032
1,919
1,978
2,490
1,861
-
-
548
234
-
-
73
280
177
170
-
-
1,450
1,639
5,240
3,753
-
-
1,402
1,300
4,048
3,198
918
644
-
-
35
35
5,286
8,394
-
-
27,797 26,216
8,622 2,150 10,772 3,106

10 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Balance Sheet as at 31[st] March 2022

Fixed Assets
Property
Van
Stairlift
Less depreciation






Current Assets
CCLA Investment Account
Deposit Account
Current Account
Sundry Debtors
Prepayments
Sub Total





Less Current Liability
Sundry Creditors
Accruals
Net Assets


Unrestricted Funds
Open Balance
Less Funds to Designated
Add Funds from Designated
Add Funds from Restricted
Year’s Result
Closing Balance





Designated Funds
Opening Balance
Funds from Unrestricted
Less Funds Expended
Closing Balance




Restricted Funds
Opening Balance
Receipts
Funds Released to
Unrestricted
Less funds Expended
Closing Balance


2022
38,094
24,823
1,225
-26,048
38,094
47,272
42,571
1,480
-
2,093
93,416
2,454
8,972
11,426
120,084
104,312
-
-
-
8,622
112,934
5,000
-
-
5,000
-
2,150
-
-
2,150
120,084


2021
38,094
24,823
1,225
-26,048
38,094
47,253
32,468
1,748
-
978
82,447

2,318
8,911
11,229
109,312
101,206
-
-
-
3,106
104,312

5,000
-
-
5,000
-
-
-
-
-
109,312




These Financial Statements were approved and signed by the members of the committee on 29[th] May 2022.

C Pearcey (Director)

C Wellings (Treasurer)

11 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Notes to the Accounts

1. Accounting Policies

Basis of Preparation

The accounts have been prepared under the historical cost conversion. The financial statement followed the guidelines of the revised Statement of Recommended Practice for Accounting Charities, effective from 1st January 2015 (the Charities SORP FRSSE version) and uses applicable Accounting Standards.

Fund Accounting

General Funds are unrestricted funds that are available for use, at the discretion of the Trustees, in furtherance of the objectives of the charity and have not been designated for other purposes. Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes. Restricted funds are funds that are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by the donor.

Incoming Resources

All incoming resources are included only when deposited in the charity’s bank accounts.

Resources Expended

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to that category. Fundraising cost are those costs incurred in seeking voluntary contributions.

Depreciation

Assets costing under £1,000 have been expended in the year of purchase as they have been deemed to be minor in nature. All assets, other than property, being depreciated on a straight-line basis at 20% per year.

Taxation

The Bridgend Samaritans is a registered charity and is therefore potentially exempt from taxation of its income and gains to the extent that they fall within section 505 of the Income & Corporation Taxes Act 1998 and section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992. No tax charge has arisen this year.

2. Description of Reserves

General Funds: Fund held available for ordinary purposes of the charity. Included in the General Fund is £38,094 which is invested in the charity’s fixed assets and, therefore, not available for other purposes. Designated Fund: This comprises the funds that have been aside for the purpose of property maintenance costs of £5,000 which is held in the Investment Account. Reserve Level: The balance in the General Fund at 31[st] March 2022 that is available for use is £74,840 and it represents the equivalent of approximately 2¾ years forecast expenditure.

12 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Analysis of Fundraising

Philanthropic Organisations £15,750
Donations Received £7,012
StatutoryBodies £5,200
Collection Boxes £3,296
Grant - Samaritans £3,075
Grants £2,150
Charitable Activities £1,333
Sponsorship £233
Sale of Christmas Cards £188
Amazon Smile £186
Churches £256
Give Asyou live £95
Raffles £60
Fayres & Events £56
In Memory- Funeral donations £50
Interest Received £23
SumupCard Payments £18
PayPal GivingFund £16
Total for theyear £38,997

Our thanks this year are extended to all individuals and local organisations who have donated money to Bridgend Samaritans to help us continue to run the branch in these difficult times.

We especially extend our thanks to one of our support volunteers Jan Watson who, as usual, has done an exceptional job raising funds through the collection boxes placed in various shops through the Bridgend area. This work continued throughout 2021 despite the Covid pandemic. We are lucky to have Jan’s continued persistence in collecting full boxes of change and there are over 100 boxes out in the communities of Bridgend.

The top ten collecting boxes are:

  1. Spar Store, Brackla

  2. Llew’s Take-away & Diner, Brackla

  3. Craft Cwtch, Bridgend Market

  4. Verlands Stores, Pencoed

  5. Finnegans, Broadlands

  6. Boverton Post Office 7. Llanharan Service Station 8. Costcutter, Pontycymer 9. Bryntirion Post Office

  7. Finnegans Extra, Bryntirion

Analysis of Expenditure

----- Start of picture text -----
Analysis of Expenditure
6000.00
5000.00
4000.00
3000.00
2000.00
1000.00
0.00
----- End of picture text -----

13 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Financial Review

This year is the fifth year of reporting for Bridgend Samaritans CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation), and as such the figures shown above relate only to the new charity. The unincorporated Bridgend Samaritans charity account retains a £100 as agreed.

It was decided at the committee meeting on 14th February 2019 that we would retain £5,000 in the designated fund to cover any unexpected building maintenance.

The trustees have agreed to keep the amount at £5,000 for this year.

This year we have made a surplus of £10,772 which will ensure the charity can continue for the next few years. This is partly down to having received another grant from Samaritans Central Charity to help support the running costs, but mainly due to the generous donation received from Coychurch Crematorium. We also received a donation from GWR at the end of the year which has been restricted to costs within Outreach for the coming year. Without this much needed funding income would have been down significantly and we would have had to dip into our reserves to keep running.

High reserves have also meant that we have had to pay an amount in Branch Contribution which enables Samaritans as a whole to offer the best services to our callers. The balance sheet remains strong and the cash balances will continue to be monitored during the coming year to ensure that all returns are being maximised.

Using funds received from Samaritans Central Charity we have invested heavily in new equipment within our branch to help keep everyone safe and well, this equipment is easier to clean which again we have spent a significant amount on this year.

We would like to thank all our donors who have continued to support us as much as they are able to, so that we can continue the support that is needed even more so than ever.

This is my third and final year as Treasurer as we have a change of trustees again this year. I hope Samaritans Bridgend Branch continues to thrive and help as many people as possible in the years to come.

Caroline Wellings, Treasurer

14 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Independent Examiners Report

15 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

The Role of the Volunteer

The role of the general volunteer is as a Listening Volunteer who talks to anyone that calls, emails or visits our Samaritans branch and via our Outreach programme within the local community.

On 31st March 2022 our branch consisted of 107 volunteers, of whom 73 were listeners, 7 new volunteers in training, 15 support volunteers and we had 12 volunteers off rota. All our Samaritan roles are carried out using volunteers, we have no paid staff.

Most listening volunteers agree to do a minimum of 2.75 hours per week including one weekend and one overnight duty each month. Our duty shifts are either 3 or 4 hours long.

16 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Statistics

The statistics in this report cover the 12 month period from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022 and are collected from the official Samaritans reporting systems, supplemented by additional information contained in the eLog.

During the period the branch received 19,515 contacts from callers. This includes 18,500 inbound phone calls, 97 follow up calls and 918 emails. As part of our Outreach programme, we supported 40 callers and talked to 246 people during awareness raising events. Throughout the year our average of 69 listening volunteers spent 4,401 hours on the phone.

----- Start of picture text -----
TOTAL CONTACTS
14.67% Inbound calls (Excluding
4.70% Snaps)
0.50%
Outbound Calls
Email
80.13% Snaps
----- End of picture text -----

The majority of the callers were offered emotional support, but 2,863 callers made ‘snap’ calls, where the contact was less than 10 seconds. Where the gender of contacts could be determined 44.2% percent identified as male, 52.2% percent identified as female and 0.3% identified as transgender or some other preferred term. The gender of a caller was unable to be determined in 3.3% of callers.

The breakdown of hours spent on each service is shown below.

----- Start of picture text -----
Individual Volunteer Hours per month
8.00 80
7.00 70
6.00 60
5.00 50
4.00 40
3.00 30
2.00 20
1.00 10
0.00 0
Vol Hours on Phone Vol Email Hours No of Volunteers
----- End of picture text -----

Wendy, Branch Statistician

17 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Caller Support

Caller support is a process that ensures our volunteers are able to extend the support we offer to callers who are in need of more than just an ad hoc phone call. The team have worked throughout the year to ensure safeguarding and support have been paramount for our callers.

Changes to the UK charity saw a Caller Support and Safeguarding Hub emerge and although this meant individual branches no longer needed a dedicated team of volunteers, the team continued to support the transition to the now fully implemented process.

The Caller Support and Safeguarding Hub is a volunteer led service which supports callers where we are worried about their safety, or that they are being hurt either by their own actions or by someone else and we want to help them to find the best way to keep themselves safe. We'll do this by listening and by talking to a caller about what they want to do. Most of the time whatever a caller tells us will stay between the caller and Samaritans. However, if we feel that a caller is unable to make decisions for themselves, sometimes we might need to tell someone else what we’ve been told to be able to help that caller.

A big THANK YOU to Helen and her team for doing such a sterling job in Bridgend Branch for almost 3 years!

Wendy & Vicky working at Bridgend College Wellbeing Festival – May 2022

18 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Leaders

This past year for the Bridgend Leaders has been another challenging one with the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic amongst other challenges. Yet, once again, they have stood up to those challenges and have continued to keep our shifts open and our branch an amazing place to be.

The role of the Branch Leader is an extremely important one within the Samaritan organisation. The Leader is responsible for every shift whether it’s a traditional telephone shift in our branch or one of the many outreach shifts that Bridgend branch does. One of the most difficult things about being a Leader can be keeping on top of the changes within the charity and within the branch and also keeping on top of our caller support information and our Leaders in Bridgend do an amazing job of all of this.

We currently have 22 brilliant Leaders covering 30 weekly shifts in the branch, both day and night, as well as the many outreach activities that are starting to return following the Covid19 pandemic.

Our Leaders responsibilities include:

These past two years have been a very challenging time for our Leaders who have had to provide additional help and support to ensure that our shifts stay open and that the environment is safe at all times for our volunteers, during such a difficult and worrying time for all.

I would therefore like to say an extra special thank you to the Bridgend Branch Leader Team for the past three years, during my role as Deputy Director for Leaders. They have been hard working, dedicated, helpful and supportive and always – without exception – gone the extra

19 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

mile for our charity, our branch, our volunteers and for our callers. My job would have been so much harder if they weren’t so amazing!

Thanks to all – we wouldn’t have a branch without you!

Gemma, Deputy Director for Leaders

A visit in May 2022 from Julie Bentley, CEO of Samaritans.

On Saturday 30 October, Listening Walk’s David Matthews completed his incredible and epic journey, walking 6,100 miles to every Samaritans branch in the UK and Ireland to raise awareness of our services. On 18th May 2021, volunteers Dave & Wendy joined him to walk the last 7 miles into

Bridgend Branch.

20 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Outreach

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the Samaritans was forced into introducing restrictions to our face-to-face activities and this has obviously impacted on our outreach work once again this year. What we have managed to do is outlined below

In the past, Bridgend has undertaken a great variety of outreach work and we will resume once restrictions have been lifted. This outreach work enables us to provide emotional support and raise awareness of our services directly in our local community. This is often achieved by working in partnership with other organisations and we are grateful to all of them for their support and look forward to continuing our work with them

In a typical year, members of our outreach team spend around 1,000 hours making contact with individuals. These outreach activities are in addition to volunteers’ listening shifts in branch and it can often involve long days and require much preparation beforehand. Paul, our schools’ lead, and Vicky, our lead for feet on the street and the Princess of Wales, have been a great support during my three years as deputy director for outreach and I know they join me in saying that what we achieve would not be possible without our volunteers’ ongoing support, commitment and enthusiasm for outreach work and that every one of them deserves our heart-felt thanks.

Work Undertaken This Year

Working with partners

21 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Members of the Western Vale Suicide Prevention Project following the first meeting.

Talks and Presentations

Bill and Paul at Bryntirion School.

22 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Other Activities

Rose, designated driver on our ‘pub crawl’ Delivering drink mats and literature to the on World Suicide Prevention Day Horseshoe Inn, Marcross

Outreach Future

We are committed to resuming our outreach work as soon as it is permissible and safe to do so. So, if you are interested in finding out more about our outreach work, please get in touch with the Deputy Director for Outreach to see what we can do.

Penny, Deputy Director for Outreach

23 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Prison Listening

The mission for Samaritans is to reduce deaths by suicide. We do this by providing a confidential emotional support service every day and every night, every day of the year. We are there for people who are struggling to cope and for people who are stressed or worried and need to talk to someone. By making our service confidential it gives people the courage to open up about their deepest darkest feelings.

Supporting prisoners is important. People in prison are ten times more likely to commit suicide than people in the general population. The Samaritans provide emotional support to prisoners in two key ways:

The Samaritans also provide confidential help and emotional support to prison staff and to prisoners’ families. This support is free to access, confidential and available around the clock.

The Listeners is a special scheme run by the Samaritans inside prisons. The Listeners are prisoners who have been selected and trained by the Samaritans to enable them to act as “the Samaritans” inside the prison so that they can provide face-to-face confidential emotional support to their fellow prisoners.

At Bridgend Samaritans we have a small, dedicated Branch Prison Support Team that supports our local prison, HMP & YOI Parc. We also rely on the Selection Team and the Training Team in our Branch to help us recruit, select and train new Listeners. HMP Parc is a male prison for about 1700 inmates. It is a private prison run on behalf of the Prison Service by G4S. We generally have around 20 trained Listeners in Parc who provide emotional support to their fellow prisoners. Our Listener Scheme does save lives and the support our Branch gives to HMP Parc means we can continue to help prisoners who are desperate and despairing without judging them. Our Branch is grateful for the support we receive from the Management and Safer Custody staff at HMP &YOI Parc for our Listener Scheme.

In September 2021 the Samaritans celebrated THIRTY YEARS of the Listener Scheme. The first Listener Scheme in the UK was initiated by Samaritans’ Swansea Branch at HMP Swansea in 1991, following the tragic death of a young man on remand at that prison. From these early beginnings the Listener Scheme spread and nowadays there are Listener Schemes operating in 142 UK & ROI prisons. Each one is supported by the local Samaritans Branch.

The Listener Scheme at HMP & YOI Parc began in November 1997 when the prison opened, and Bridgend Samaritans have provided continuous support for the Listener Scheme at Parc ever since. During the 30th Anniversary Celebrations, we held two weeks of events from 27th September until 10th October 2021 in Parc. There were posters, banners, leaflets and booklets for the prisoners and the Staff to raise awareness of the Listener Scheme and to recognise the hours of time given by our volunteers (Listeners & Samaritans) and by Prison Staff who together make the Listener Scheme work for everyone. Our Listeners received a special 30th Anniversary goodie bag to thank them for their dedicated service. At Bridgend Samaritans we were delighted that the HMP Parc Listeners organised two sponsored events

24 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

during the 30th Anniversary to raise funds for our Branch – a sponsored cycle ride (in the prison gym) and a sponsored walk around the prison residential blocks. An amazing £227 was raised from the prisoners and this was fund-matched by HMP Parc/G4S.

This year has marked our second year of coping with the impacts and restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. There have been weeks when prisoners have been confined in their cells for 23 hours per day; there have been times when prisoners have not been able to enjoy face-to-face visits with their family and friends and their work and education opportunities inside prison have been stopped or restricted and there have been periods when our weekly support meetings for the Listeners inside Parc have had to be suspended. The better news is that the Covid restrictions are slowly being lifted and as we look forward to 2022/23 life inside HMP & YOI Parc is slowly returning to “normal”.

A heartfelt “Thank you” goes to all the Branch Prison Team and to all the other Samaritans in our Branch who have been there to support prisons this year.

Grace, Branch Prison Support Co-ordinator

Dave returning to Parc Prison after a gap due to lockdown

25 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Recruitment and Selection

During this year three cohorts of recruitment and selection interviews were held for prospective volunteers. We received a total of 72 incoming enquiries, which is significantly less than the 116 we received last year.

less than the 116 we received last year.
Selected and moved on to Core training 22
Withdrawals for a variety of reasons 10
Did not respond to emails & texts 22
Referred to other branches in Wales 2
Potential volunteers on waiting list 16

The recruitment challenge is one which the Samaritans organisation as a whole has been working hard to address as the statistics have shown a slowing down in enquiries. Our main source of enquiries is generated through the Samaritans Website and comes through the Branch Management Tool, the new Samaritans automated system, with just a handful from direct emails and Samaritans Cymru Central Office.

We have been using the Branch Management Tool for recruitment and training courses since the end of April 2021. The system handles a large percentage of the administration usually carried out by a couple of individuals in the branch, which has helped with automated collection of references and emails to prospective volunteers but there have been teething problems with the system throughout the past year creating a lot of work in resolving issues. Samaritans Central Office are constantly working hard to fix all the bugs in the system as and when they appear.

I would like to thank all our Recruitment & Selection Team for supporting the branch and embracing the system of remotely interviewing and selecting potential volunteers and for being there right at the start of those potential volunteers’ journey to become full listening volunteer members of Bridgend Samaritans.

Dave, Deputy Director for Recruitment & Selection and BSRA

26 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Training

We pride ourselves in Bridgend in rising to any challenge and during lockdown and beyond we have continued, successfully, to train many potential volunteers to become listening volunteers

Core and embedding training

April 2021 up to and including April 2022 we trained 4 cohorts to take on their volunteer journey in Samaritans Core training and subsequently the embedding training. Initially all through Zoom and we have now moved to a combination of face-to-face sessions and Zoom.

Whilst we are all social butterflies and like to get together, there was a noticeable commitment from volunteers involved to attend consistently and Zoom actually supported the process even when some had illnesses or contracted Covid and would normally not been able to attend if face to face.

This year the branch’s very small training team delivered:

The training team is a small team of very dedicated volunteers who give their time over and above their duties as listening volunteers. Bridgend is also lucky to have the support of trained Skills Practitioners and have been using remote skills sessions to help prepare our potential volunteers.

Volunteer Development

Again, we have seen interesting and successful online training modules in Safeguarding and various updates to our policies, with volunteers steadfast in completing to meet target deadlines set for the UK charity.

Now we have returned to being able to meet face-to-face we look forward to re-starting ongoing Mentoring, which monitors quality of calls and also a mix of face-to-face and online volunteer continuous development throughout 2022-2023.

Mentoring

Whilst mentoring has been challenging when maintaining safe social distancing, Bridgend took on the challenge and managed to pair up all new starters to ensure they had the best possible experience from nurturing volunteers devoted to developing their new colleagues.

A big thank you to the Training team, skills practitioners and mentoring volunteers for helping us to grow our numbers to ensure we continue to support our callers when they need us.

Gabby, Deputy Director for Training

27 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022

Volunteer Care and Support

Volunteer Support is an important role, supporting and maintaining good health, trust, and good relations within the working environment of Bridgend Branch.

There is a hardworking and dedicated team of ten volunteers. Each member of the team looks after an allocated number of volunteers to care for and support.

It their responsibility to regularly contact their group of volunteers to update and check all is well. If, however, there are any worries or concerns, then the member of the Support Team will ensure all the necessary support and back-up is available. This is undertaken when perhaps there is a personal crisis, but always in complete confidence. We care for our callers, so it is vital that we care and support our own at all times.

Our branch has been very fortunate to have celebrated many Long-Term Service Awards within this past year. These are as follows:

Adrian - 5 years
Bill - 10 years
Gabby - 10 years
Gail - 15 years
Gemma - 15 years
Harriet - 5 years
Pauline - 5 years
Penny - 5 years
Peter - 5 years
Philip - 45 years
Tom - 5 years

Many thanks and well done to each and every one of you. It is much appreciated!

Harriet, Deputy Director for Volunteer Support

Rose & Rhiannon at Bridgend Wellbeing Festival in May 2022

28 Annual Review April 2021 – March 2022