Root around for a pound

Coin it for kids by rounding up all your old money

YOU could help to save a child in crisis just by rummaging down the back of the sofa to round up your old pounds.

As part of our Christmas campaign for the NSPCC and Childline, launched yesterday, we’re asking you to make a difference by digging out your old coins and taking them to Barclays.

Every year 175,000 phone calls from troubled youngsters don’t reach the free counselling service, due to a lack of funding, growing demand and lack of staff.

Childline needs an extra £500,000 annually to close the gap. So the Daily Mirror has joined the Light Up Christmas for Children campaign. Just take your old pound coins and leftover foreign currency to a branch of Barclays, where staff will send it all to the NSPCC.

NSPCC boss Peter Wanless said just one of your old pound coins can go a long way. “Small sums can make a huge difference, especially to a young person’s life,” he said.

“Four people donating one old pound could pay for a Childline counsellor to answer a call from a child or teenager, while £27 could pay for an in-depth counselling session, often the first time a young person feels listened to.” The old round pounds have been replaced by a new forgery-proof 12-sided coin.

There were £400million-worth of old pounds in circulation just before they stopped being legal tender on October 15, so there are still plenty out there.

Mr Wanless added: “We are really grateful to Barclays for running this fantastic initiative and having their staff ready to collect the old pound coins.”

Dame Esther Rantzen, who founded the 24-hour Childline counselling service in 1986, agreed your old coins can make a huge difference. But it’s not just old coins and currency that could help save lives. Stamps could raise vital cash too, and we are asking readers to send them in – as long as they can fit in an A4 envelope – in aid of the campaign. Childline warns many young people are already at “crisis point” when they phone or email in. Dame Esther said: “Childline works night and day to be there for as many children and teenagers as possible.

“However, with more and more young people contacting us online, and these counselling sessions taking double the time as those conducted over the phone, our resources are becoming increasingly stretched.

“We are really excited that a great campaigning newspaper like the Daily Mirror is backing our efforts to get to young people in need of our help more quickly. “We would also urge children and teenagers to keep contacting us and to stay on the call or online until a counsellor is available.” There has been a sharp rise in demand for online and latenight counselling from Childline. Children call for help on issues like domestic and sexual abuse, eating disorders, substance abuse, bullying and gender and sexuality issues. To send your stamps, please post to Daily Mirror Christmas Appeal, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5AP. Please do not send anything larger than an A4 envelope.

Every 25 seconds a child contacts the NSPCC’s Childline service. They need your support Childline counsellors can only respond to 3 of 4 children who need their help