Former Cyprus Samaritans director recognised in Queen’s Honours List

The 2018 New Year honours list recognised the work of the Cyprus Samaritans which celebrated 20 years since its inception in 2016.

Former director of the Cyprus Samaritans, Sally Unsworth, was granted an MBE for ‘services to charity and the British community in Cyprus.’ Unsworth, from Lancashire in the UK, also founded the Paphos Bereavement Group.

The announcement was made in the civil division diplomatic service and overseas list of the London Gazette, the UK’s official public record, on December 30.

The Cyprus Samaritans is a volunteer organisation and offers an island-wide free helpline number which provides a listening ear to all those who need it. The helpline is run from 4pm-midnight every day, 360 days a year.

Although they are not part of the UK Samaritans, the charity’s policies are similar and they are part of ‘Befrienders Worldwide,’ which operates in around forty countries.

Honours lists are published twice a year, on the Queen’s official birthday in June and at New Year, and recognise extraordinary achievement and service to the UK.

The Cyprus Samaritans Freephone confidential helpline service 8000 7773, is available from 4pm until midnight seven days a week.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.