TWENTY years ago, Bill Donnelly was reading his favourite morning newspaper – The Northern Echo, of course – and saw an advertisement appealing for volunteers to join The Samaritans.

Bill, a manager for the Co-op at the time, was looking for something different to enrich his life so he went along to an information day at his local branch in Durham.

Two decades later, Bill, now a 63-year-old grandad of two, is branch chairman and justifiably proud of the difference The Samaritans make in easing the pain of the distressed and despairing.

It was my pleasure to be guest speaker at the branch's annual general meeting at the City of Durham Rugby Club last week and to hear more about the invaluable work of the charity which was launched nationally in 1953 and locally in Durham 18 years later.

In Durham alone, 78 volunteers contribute to the national network which enables telephones to be manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Durham branch took 18,945 "contacts" last year, with 20.6 per cent of them having suicidal feelings. There was a 46 per cent increase last year in the number of contacts, partly due to the introduction of a new Freephone national number – 116123.

Those who need support can also now contact The Samaritans by text and email and Bill believes the work of the organisation is more important than ever.

"When you answer that phone, you have no idea what the nature of it will be, who it is from, and where it is from but to be able to help someone in despair or distress is hugely rewarding," said Bill.

"We receive a lot of calls from people who are lonely and just being able to talk to someone is often all it takes to alleviate some of the pain.

"There's also been an increase in the number of calls relating to mental health and The Samaritans is the only service where calls will be answered through the night."

With discussions taking place about establishing a new partnership with Durham University to offer support for students, the service continues to expand.

Bill stepped down as branch chairman at the AGM but will continue as a volunteer. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank him, along with volunteers working for The Samaritans across the country, for the amazing job they do for nothing other than the knowledge that they are helping those who have no-one else to talk to.

Just like Bill Donnelly 20 years ago, maybe someone will read today's edition of The Northern Echo and decide to become a volunteer. To find out more, go to www.samaritans.org

CONGRATULATIONS to another great organisation, County Durham Community Foundation, for passing the £30m milestone in grants given to good causes over the past 21 years.

It was a pleasure to be part of a gathering at Business Central in Darlington last week to celebrate the work of one of the country's best community foundations.

Mind you, it wasn't all positive. I found myself chatting to the silver-tongued Mayor of Darlington, Councillor Brian Jones, who somehow managed to talk me into joining him for the Boxing Day dip at Seaton Carew.

Costume suggestions can be emailed to peter.barron@nne.co.uk, or send via Facebook or Twitter (echopeterbarron).

GOOD luck to my old friend and family hairdresser Nigel Dowson who will soon be appearing on ITV show The Chase.

Popular Cockfield lad Nigel, who owns the Jigsaw salon in Darlington, filmed the programme months ago and he's sworn to secrecy about what happens.

Those who know him will testify that Nigel's a lovely lad and a cracking hairdresser but let's just say it's not a natural condition for him to remain tight-lipped. If there was an England team for talkers, he'd be centre-forward.

It's bound to be fun watching Bradley Walsh and The Beast trying to get a word in edgeways with Darlington's chattiest hairdresser at 5pm on November 18. Cut to The Chase, Nigel! Cut to The Chase!

STILL on the subject of ITV television programmes, Dark Angel, a drama based on the true story of notorious North-East poisoner Mary Ann Cotton, has been getting rave reviews.

I fully appreciate that artistic licence comes into play but anyone remotely local to the region will know the scene in the picture isn't Seaham but the distinctive coastline of Saltburn.

The Northern Echo:

THANK you to the local branches of the Women's Institute which had me as guest speaker for a group meeting at Long Newton, between Darlington and Stockton. They are a lovely bunch.

Special thanks to Bernice Turnbull for remembering the time she submitted her report of a meeting of Hartburn WI to the dear old Darlington & Stockton Times.

Bernice's submission included a review of the guest speaker, whose subject was quilt-making. She meant to say that "the quilts were awesome". She got a bit mixed up and her published report stated that "the quilts were awful".