An exciting and challenging three years is what the new Isle of Man Samaritans boss says he is expecting as he starts his tenure as the charity’s latest director.

Chartered accountant and former Dandara finance director, Gary Leeming, has been a Samaritans volunteer since 2014 and has served on the prison and training teams.

His tenure, following on from predecessor Gill Porter, will see the charity celebrate its 40th anniversary in the island.

He said: ’It is an honour and a privilege to be asked to lead the branch for the next three years and to continue the good work that Gill has carried out.’

Officially Samaritans Isle of Man’s 40th birthday falls on September 29.

’We are planning a number of outreach events in that week,’ Mr Leeming said.

’Including one specifically to thank past and present volunteers for the significant time and energy they have willingly devoted to our callers - 24 hours a day - when callers are feeling distressed, suicidal or in despair.’

Lady Paul, the then governor’s wife, who become the first patron, was at the official opening and this was preceded by a visit to the island by Chad Varah, the Samaritans’ founder.

Samaritans Isle of Man has more than 60 listening volunteers providing round the clock support to people who contact them, not only by telephone but also by email, text or sometimes meet face to face. Another soon-to-be-offered option is contact by instant messaging or webchat, a project targeting younger callers.

Describing this as a project close to their hearts, Mr Leeming added: ’Our branch invested the proceeds of a significant local legacy given to us some years ago to help get this national project off the ground.’

He said he saw the anniversary as a chance to publicise the Samaritans’ services and dispel some of the myths as well.

Confidentiality, he said, was paramount and the Freecall number, 116123, which takes callers to a UK centre, made it extremely unlikely an Isle of Man caller would ever be connected with a Manx volunteer.

The charity wants to work with the government on suicide prevention, targeting higher risk groups but stressed the importance of attracting new volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, including support (non-listening) volunteers to help out with things like outreach events.

’In common with many other charities, we depend on income received from legacies, grants and donations so volunteers to assist with fundraising are also vital to our service,’ he said.

For more information, contact the Samaritans at: www.samaritans.org