THE Pembrokeshire Samaritans are launching a fundraising campaign to ensure that the Haverfordwest branch has the necessary funds to cope with Christmas - its busiest time of the year.

Last year, telephone calls to The Samaritans went up by 6% over the Christmas period. Volunteers give their time free of charge to offer support to callers in distress 24 hours a day, including throughout the holiday period. However, the service is reliant on public donations to make sure that callers can get through whenever they need to.

Elsa, the director of Pembrokeshire Samaritans, said: The Samaritans are such an integral part of the community that people tend to forget that we need funds to survive. It costs money to provide the phone lines we use to listen to people and our volunteers have to be trained. Even looking after the branch premises in Haverfordwest costs money. We would like to appeal to anyone who can make a donation this Christmas - they will be helping us make sure that we are here for all those who arent having a great time over the festive season.

As part of their fundraising campaign, Pembrokeshire Samaritans are holding various events over the festive season, including carol singing at various supermarkets and a poultry bingo evening.

Elsa added: We are celebrating 25 years of The Samaritans in Pembrokeshire and in all that time there has been a constant struggle to find both volunteers and funds to keep the branch open.

It costs £50 a day to run the centre in Haverfordwest. The Branch would be in serious difficulty without the dedicated staff in The Samaritan Shop, Upper Market Street, Haverfordwest. It would be nice to think that the Pembrokeshire Samaritans could survive another 25 years, and beyond, for people going through their own personal crisis.