About

Northallerton and The Dales Branch was the first rural branch to be established, 61 years ago and we are a great team whom support each other whilst providing a much needed service through answering the phones to the valued callers.

The branch covers a large geographical area, recruiting volunteers from throughout North Yorkshire, and relies on donations and the support of our local community to fund our running costs. Following the great success of last year, when we completed 1335.7 miles and raised a brilliant total of £1306 , we are taking part once again in Samarathon.

Throughout October we will be taking part in Samarathon, a fundraising challenge to complete the marathon distance of 26.2 miles over a month. We’ll be doing this a little differently though! Our volunteers work as a team and so we will be completing our Samarathon as a team. Between us we will be walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, rowing or running as many miles as we can. Some of our miles will be covered individually and some together during social walks and activities designed to promote the benefit of movement and the positive impact it can have on mental health and wellbeing. It doesn’t matter how far each volunteer goes as we will be logging everyone’s distances and adding them together to achieve our goals, which are:

·       To raise awareness of our services and spread the message that whatever you’re going through, if you need someone to talk to, Samaritans will listen. We won’t judge you or tell you what to do but we will be there to listen, so you don’t have to face it alone. 

·       To raise awareness of the benefits of physical activity and the positive impact it can have on mental health and wellbeing. 

·       To promote the benefits of mindfulness and taking time to appreciate the natural environment. 

·       To encourage movement and ultimately together cover as many miles as we can. We have the following equivalent distances in mind and will be having fun seeing how far we get: 

Challenge One: The distance from the Northallerton & The Dales Branch to our Central Office, Ewell, Surrey - 237 miles.

Challenge Two: The distance from the Northallerton & The Dales BranchTo Lausanne, Home of the International Olympic Committee - 805 miles

Challenge Three: The distance from the Northallerton & The Dales Branch to Copenhagen – 1005 miles

Challenge Four: The distance from the Northallerton & The Dales Branch to Madrid – 1301miles

Challenge Five: The distance from the Northallerton & The Dales Branch to Rome, Italy – 1328 miles

Follow us on our journey throughout October 2025 and see what we can achieve.  

We would of course like to raise funds for the Northallerton & The Dales Samaritans Branch to help us be here for our callers when they need us day or night. If you would like to support us by donating to our Samarathon challenge, any amount you are able to give will be gratefully appreciated. You can help make a difference to people’s lives.

 If you would like to raise funds by undertaking your own Samarathon challenge go to   https://samaritanscommunity.enthuse.com/cf/samarathon-2025-northallerton-and-the-dales and click on Register to create your own profile and join our team!

Alongside raising some funds I will be completing in as much physical activity as possible knowing it is so important for a healthy mind and improving overall wellness. I will be logging my miles through a variety of means including walking, road cycling, mountain biking and perhaps swimming too. I know how much better I feel when I've 'moved' and look forward to helping raise some funds for such a cause, close to my heart.

 I've included more information about Samaritans and their lifesaving work below:

Every ten seconds, Samaritans answer a call for help. We’re here, day or night, for anyone who’s struggling to cope, who needs someone to listen without judgement or pressure. Samaritans is not only for the moment of crisis, we’re taking action to prevent the crisis. We give people ways to cope and the skills to be there for others. Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy, and Samaritans’ vision is that fewer people die by suicide. That’s why we work tirelessly to reach more people and make suicide prevention a priority.