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Barkston woman believes ‘talking helps anybody’ after volunteering for Grantham Samaritans for 44 years




After 43 years of volunteering, Mavis Streeter, 73, believes the country wouldn’t “exist without volunteers”.

Mavis Streeter, who lives in Barkston, has been a volunteer for Grantham Samaritans since September 1979.

To celebrate Volunteers Week, which ran from June 1 until June 7, we spoke to Mavis about her experience over the years and why volunteering is so important.

Samaritans volunteer Mavis Streeter
Samaritans volunteer Mavis Streeter

In 1979, when Mavis was working in Lincoln, she saw a poster by the Samaritans appealing for volunteers.

“I came from a family who listened, so that’s why I went to volunteer”, said Mavis.

From there, she trained with the Samaritans and in all her years of volunteering, she has taken on many roles.

She said: “You answer the phones once you train, but there’s so many jobs.”

Roles she has taken on include as a leader who oversees the Samaritan volunteers on duty and answering the phones.

She is also a trustee, an outreach volunteer, a social event organiser and also biscuit monitor, which “people have said is the most important job”, she added.

Despite having so many roles, it is the “talking that gets me”, said Mavis.

She added: “If you sit down in a coffee shop and someone looks as if they need a friend, I say ‘do you mind if I sit here’ and they tell me their whole life story whilst we’re having a cup of coffee.

“I just believe talking helps anybody. It can be worse than it really is, but once they start talking it’s a burden off their brains.”

Mavis is known for providing a lending ear to anyone, especially when she used to own Barkston Post Office and also a fish and chip shop in Caythorpe.

Samaritans is a charity that provides emotional support to anyone in emotional distress, struggling to cope or at risk of suicide.

It provides a 24-hour helpline, 365 days of the year for people seeking help.

“To us, we don’t know where they are ringing from, we don’t have their name, we’re just voices on the phone”, added Mavis.

She said: ”I think it’s lovely to think there’s somebody out there at three o’clock in the morning that will pick up the phone.

“Especially now on a Friday night a lot of people go home and there’s not a lot of services until Monday morning again, whereas we [Samaritans] are 24 hours a day, every day of the year.”

In 2020/21, 16.3 million people volunteered through a group, club or organisation, according to Volunteers Week.

There are so many dedicated volunteers across the country like Mavis, but many charities are always in need of more.

“I don’t think the country would exist without volunteers.

“In Samaritans there are 23,000 volunteers, can you imagine if any of them wanted paying? It wouldn’t work.

“All of the charity shops as well, how would they run if they didn’t have volunteers?

“Volunteers give themselves freely. They care for the community and they don’t ask for any reward whatsoever.

“There’s so many places run by volunteers and they do it week after week.

“So, my message [to volunteers] is thank you for your time and making yourself available, whether it’d be for an hour or 24 hours.

“Some people want a wage or bonus, we don’t have that as a volunteer.

“Our idea of asking for a bonus is can we do anything else to help?

“It’s so precious to me that people give their time to others.”



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