ChildLine founder Esther Rantzen praises Derry NSPCC fundraisers

ChildLine founder Dame Esther Rantzen has praised volunteers from Derry at an event to mark 30 years of the phone and online service for children.

The leading television personality addressed volunteers from across Northern Ireland as well as donors, Ministers and Assembly members at a Stormont reception. The ChildLine service is still “as vital as ever,” she said.

More than four million calls have been received by ChildLine since the service was launched in 1986.

ChildLine’s centre in Derry and Belfast handled some 20 per cent of all calls from across Britain and Northern Ireland over the 12 days of Christmas.

Ms Rantzen has called for more volunteers and donations to ensure that all children have somewhere to turn when faced with abuse. Photo shows Foyle ChildLine volunteers with Esther Rantzen (from left) Aimee Wilson, Dorothy Breslin, Matthew Fitzgerald, Helen Duffy (staff), Roslyn Farr, Rebecca Lovell, Louise Connolly (staff). Esther Rantzen, Catherine McIvor, Fiona Simpson, Sarah Carlin, Annette Wright and Julieann Armstrong