Life force

Esther Rantzen talks to Janet Christie about the ongoing work of her charities, Childline and The Silver Line

Broadcaster Esther Rantzen is on the phone. She comes down the line, loud and clear, charming, polite, professional and she wants to talk.

She wants to talk about Childline, the child protection charity she set up more than 30 years ago to give vital free and confidential support to children and young people over the phone and online.

She wants to talk about the positive impact of fundraising on Childline, in particular about the efforts of Scotmid Co-operative who last year chose it as their charity of the year, raising more than £345,000 to allow Childline to answer around 85,000 calls, emails and online messages from children and young people in Scotland.

She also wants to talk about The Silver Line, the charity she founded in 2013 to do for older people what Childline did for the young – listen and help with a free, confidential 24/7 phone line to combat isolation, loneliness, harm and provide information, advice, as well as friendship through its telephone befriending service and conference calls.

And finally, she wants to talk to you if you have used Childline in the past in Scotland. She’d love you to come forward as she wants to meet you and hear how it helped. And if your name is Fiona and were a volunteer counsellor for the charity in Glasgow in the 1990s, she particularly wants to hear from you, as does Karen, a child you helped, now grown up, who would like to thank you.

“We would love to track down Fiona O, that’s what she called herself,” says Rantzen. “She was a Scottish volunteer counsellor who helped this child, now a young adult, who says she wouldn’t be here without the help she had. She showed me a copy of the letter Fiona had sent her. I would love to get a message to Fiona, because volunteer counsellors only see a snapshot. They don’t get to see the end of the story and Karen would like to thank her.”

Rantzen is not just a talker – she’s a listener too, balancing the yin and yang of communication with consummate ease so it’s a no-brainer that the two charities she has set up are all about listening to those in need. Esther is a do-er as well, and uses her skills to make things happen.

Now 77, she blazed a trail for women in the media, presenting the popular TV show, That’s Life! on BBC1 for 21 years until 1994. She also founded two national charities, fought in the 2010 General Election, was awarded an OBE, a Damehood, multiple BAFTAS and doctorates, and along the way managed to have a laugh. On That’s Life!, a magazine mix of hard items and humour, as well as getting us all to wear seatbelts (yes, there was a time when a lot of people just didn’t bother), raising awareness of child abuse and championing child organ donation, they also provided all the talking dogs (“sausages”)