Samaritans’ volunteers from the Kingston branch answered 42,964 calls for help last year, according to the national helpline charity.

The figures have been released to promote volunteers’ week, from June 1 to 7, which recognised the hard work and effort put in by the charity’s 20,980 volunteers.

Kingston’s branch director Barry Fisher said: "Volunteers from Kingston Samaritans reach out to the community in schools, prisons and railway stations.

"It is clear from the call figures that 60 years after Samaritans was founded, people need us as much as they ever did."