Childhood Day to be celebrated across county...

Fundraising event is in aid of NSPCC

CHILDHOOD Day to be celebrated across the Staffordshire Moorlands and beyond.

Fundraising groups, schools and families have thrown their weight behind a special day, calling on people across the UK to play, raise money and help keep children safe.

The children’s charity NSPCC is launching its new flagship ‘Childhood Day’ on Friday, June 11, encouraging people across the county to get involved and play with family, friends or workmates.

The North Staffordshire Fundraising Branch of the NSPCC, together with the Leek and Moorlands District have organised two events to highlight the day and promote NSPCC fundraising within the North Staffordshire community.

A ‘Six Towns Walk’ will take place on Childhood Day (Friday June 11) starting in Tunstall at 10am before heading to Burslem. Around 11.30am walkers will gather at Hanley Market Place to meet the public and collect donations, then they will continue to Stoke Town Hall and Fenton, before finishing at Longton Town Hall at around 2.45pm.

A family ‘Play Day’ will also be taking place at Heakley Hall Farm in Norton Green from 2pm – 5pm on Sunday June 13. Admission to this event is free and will include lots of fun play activities for children and has been supported by the Rotary Club of Leek.

Sue Wardle, NSPCC North Staffordshire fundraising branch chair, said: “We are looking forward to Childhood Day this year and it would be great to see people from across North Staffordshire support our ‘Six Towns Walk,’ and the ‘Play Day.’

“We are looking for new supporters from the Potteries as we currently have no regular fundraising in the Stoke-on-trent area.

“As a branch we are interested to see if anyone would like to undertake one event a year to help raise funds such as a sponsored run or walk, a coffee morning, or a cake sale. We would particularly like to engage with younger people, schools and universities.”

The NSPCC has a big presence in North Staffordshire through its service centre Carole House, located in Newcastle under Lyme.

Childhood Day comes as the NSPCC-RUN service Childline releases stark new data that highlights the huge toll of the pandemic on young people.

Since April last year Childline has carried out 73,088 counselling sessions about mental or emotional health alone, 5,646 of these counselling sessions were with children aged 11 or under, an increase of nearly a third (29 per cent) when compared to the year before.

The charity can also reveal that in 2020/21, the first full year of living under Coronavirus restrictions, it has delivered 16,610 counselling sessions about abuse. Counselling sessions about emotional abuse increased by 18 per cent when compared to the year before.

If you have any inquiries about fundraising in North Staffordshire, please contact Sue Wardle on 01782 550258 or 07710 234223.