DONATIONS to the Samaritans in Southampton have dropped by almost a third this year, the charity has reported in its annual review.

Director Carole Woolgar said that in 1999 the public donated £6,534 while this year the figure was just £4,615.

She said the downturn in donations could be explained by aggressive fundraising by some other charities, and the fact the Samaritans was left a sizeable one-off donation last year.

"I honestly don't know why we get bequests and I think in 1999 we had a big bequest from somebody's will and it wasn't repeated.

"Samaritans doesn't tug at the heartstrings as other charities do.

"We're just going to have to work harder. We're going to have to give value for money," she said.

Ms Woolgar said that despite the downturn in donations it had been a successful year for the Samaritans, with important links made with the ethnic community.

"We've been making contacts with organisations like the James Wiltshire Trust and some of the Sikh temples in the St Mary's area," she said.

"They are our neighbours. We're down in that area of Southampton and we don't have any links at all.

"We spoke to some of the ethnic leaders and we've been invited to some of the Gurdwaras so that's a start."

She said the challenges for 2001 were to continue making contacts in the ethnic community and to find a bigger centre.

The Samaritans' centre, in St Andrew's Road, is run by 148 volunteers and is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, including their busiest period, Christmas.

"Last year our calls went up 18 per cent over Christmas," said Ms Woolgar.

"There are such expectations. People have been building up to Christmas for weeks now, buying, spending money they may not have.

"Loneliness and any of the feelings that we deal with during the rest of the year can become magnified and more intense.

"The shops are shut, people are on their own, but we're there."

For counselling, 24 hours a day, or to give donations, call 08457 909090.