The Samaritans
The call to God’s service can be long, sometimes unwelcome but ultimately extraordinary. I thought of that when I was on one of my regular visits to London a weekend or two ago. With time on my hand, I went for a wander just beyond Cannon Street station and headed to the area known simply as ‘Bank’ where the Bank of England is based. To get there you have to pass the ancient church of St Stephen Walbrook. There has been a church on the site since around 700AD, but despite the Great Fire of London and the Blitz, a church on the site survives to this day.
Something else is remarkable about St Stephen Walbrook. It is the place where that magnificent organisation The Samaritans was formed. Its origins go back to 1935 when the Rector of the church, one Rev Chad Varah was an associate curate in Lincolnshire and had conducted his first ever funeral, that of a 14 year old girl being buried in unconsecrated ground who had killed herself because she had started menstruating, but she thought, due to lack of any sexual education, that she would instead die a slow, painful and shameful death. Chad Varah made a promise to that girl’s soul :” I stood at the end of the grave and I said, little girl, I never knew you, but I promise that you have changed my life…”
The years progressed and he became aware of others with suicidal thoughts and the need for somewhere for desperate people to turn to- a kind of ‘999 for the suicidal’. He recalls saying to God “ Then I said to God, be reasonable! Don’t look at me…I’m possibly the busiest person in the Church of England…It’d need to be a priest with one of those city churches with no parishioners…”. And yes you know what happened next! After returning from a holiday, he received a telegram offering him the Rectorship of St Stephen Walbrook- exactly what he knew was needed-how could he resist?
So, his little organisation was set up in 1953 in the crypt of St Stephens – the number of the phone line was MAN 9000, and following publicity, a newspaper coined the service ‘Telephone Good Samaritan’- and the name stuck. Its aim was very simple “to befriend the suicidal and despairing”. It has now grown from one phone number and line to a service that now operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, has over 200 branches in the UK, more than 20,000 volunteers and services in 40 other countries. Its aim now includes “..providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress..”, and its service is still desperately needed.
Each year over 5,000 people commit suicide in England and Wales alone- and of those, 74% are men. In just one year the Samaritans had over 5 million calls of assistance to them by telephone, email, letter and now face to face.
And what about the Rev Chad Varah? He was an amazing man- not only did he set up the Samaritans and established its ethos, he also had a sideline of co-creating and co-writing the classic children’s comic The Eagle (Dan Dare Pilot of the Future) and its sister title Girl (Kitty Hawke and her All Girl Crew, anyone?). When he retired from St Stephens, Walbrook in 2003 at the ripe old age of 92, Chad was the oldest incumbent in the CoE……
Tags: God, Samaritans, chad varah, suicide