In late 1975 a public meeting was held in Waterford which was addressed by RTE newsreader Charles Mitchell and it was decided to form a branch of the Samaritans. Subsequently on 1st March 1976 Waterford and South East Samaritans was officially opened by Fr Martin Slattery who was the first Branch Director. The initial group of volunteers were trained by Cork based volunteers and since then over 1000 volunteers have been trained in Waterford. Today fifty years later, in the early afternoon the Mayor of