In the darkness, a light. It shines on the corner of a modest row of houses in a nondescript street. The night may feel oppressive and empty, but still the light shines. And it illuminates a word that says there is still hope. That word is: Samaritans.

That light was fixed to a building where I spent many extraordinary hours. I had the privilege of volunteering for the charity for three years; the experience changed my life. And there are many other such lights, in cities and towns and villages across the country: you may sometimes glimpse them from a window of a train, and they remind you there is desperate suffering everywhere, but also that, everywhere, there is someone to help.

Samaritans has more than 200 branches. But, according to its managers, that is too many. They said last week that they want to close 100 of them. Volunteers will be moved to “regional hubs”, and some volunteers will take calls at home. This news has alarmed many of those who give up their free time for the charity, and I share their fears. Both parts of the plan carry wider significance, too: the first as an example of a trend towards making charities more like corporations, the second in the questions it raises about working from home.

One of the first things that struck me about Samaritans was its amateurism. I mean that in the best possible way. Its standards are professional and its training is rigorous, but it runs on love. We operated not from a shiny call........

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