My friend Alan Woodhouse, who has died aged 92, was the longest serving Samaritans volunteer in the history of the organisation, which offers support to anyone struggling to cope or at risk of taking their own lives.
Alan joined the Liverpool and Merseyside branch when it was founded in 1960, and was still answering telephones there 60 years later. He was appointed MBE for his service in 2017 and retired in 2020.
Samaritans was founded in 1953 in London by the Rev Chad Varah. Its second branch was set up in the crypt of St Nicholas Church, Liverpool Pier Head, and when it opened on 1 March 1960 Alan staffed the first overnight shift. Later, in the 1990s, he was instrumental in securing a National Lottery grant to completely renovate the branch premises in Clarence Street, Liverpool.
Alan was born in Normanton, West Yorkshire, the younger child of Edith (nee Bubb), a nurse, and George Woodhouse, who worked in a woollen mill. He went to Holme Valley grammar school (now Honley high), and studied English at Jesus College, Oxford, graduating in 1955. That year, too, he married Penny Hopwood and they settled in Wallasey.
He became head of English at Alsop high school, Liverpool, the following year and then from 1967 until 1983 was head of English studies and the director of the degree course on literature, life and thought, at the CF Mott College of Higher Education, Prescot.
In 1983, he went to France to teach phonetics and English literature at the University of Provence at Aix, for three academic years. When he returned, he studied for a French degree at Liverpool University and was awarded a first in 1990. He then taught French at Liverpool University from 1992 until he retired in 2008. In retirement, unable to sit still and do nothing, he found a niche at Egremont primary school, Wallasey, helping youngsters with reading problems.
After going to Buckingham Palace in 2017, where he was presented with his MBE medal by the then Prince of Wales, royal patron of Samaritans, Alan commented: “It’s not all about me: it’s about recognising the work of Samaritan volunteers over the decades who have given their time to be there, at the end of a telephone, to help others in need.” He continued his Samaritans shifts until March 2020, and it was only the Covid lockdowns that stopped him.
Penny died in 2021, and Alan lived out his retirement in the house in Wallasey they had bought 65 years earlier, supported in later years by his many friends. He enjoyed nothing more than walking his dog, Daisy, followed by a coffee and the Guardian quick crossword.
He is survived by his three children, Joanna, Michael and Katherine.
