PRESS RELEASE
Vonnies Blues & R and B raise £5500 for Cheltenham Samaritans.
16 November 2009
Last Wednesday, Valerie Nicoll, chair person of Cheltenham Samaritans, was invited to Vonnies Blues and R&B club to accept a cheque for £5,500 which has been raised by Vonnies over the past year.
Valerie thanked Dave Jones and the members for their generous donation and promised the money would be spent wisely. Valerie said "Like all charities we are finding it much harder to raise money in the existing financal climate so this is a wonderful gesture" and she took the opportunity to say that Samaritans are available 24x7 and can be contacted by phone, visit to the centre, email or text.
For 6 years Dave Jones has been running Vonnies at the Institute in Charlton Kings. His idea was to have frontline Blues musicians playing, and, at the same time raise money for local charities.The charity chosen this year was Cheltenham Samaritans.
Last Wednesday the lead act was Catfish Keith, who is currently on tour from the USA.
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Notes to editors
It is the aim of Samaritans to make emotional health a mainstream issue. Samaritans' vision is for a society where fewer people die by suicide because people are able to share feelings of emotional distress openly without fear of being judged. Samaritans believes that offering people the opportunity to be listened to in confidence, and accepted without prejudice, can alleviate despair and suicidal feelings.
Samaritans is a registered charity, founded in 1953, which offers 24-hour
confidential emotional support to anyone in emotional distress. The service
is offered by 16,800 trained volunteers and is entirely
dependent on voluntary support. Across the UK, you can call Samaritans on
08457 90 90 90 (1850 60 90 90 in the Republic of Ireland) email jo@samaritans.org,
write to Samaritans at Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA, or if you
are deaf or hard of hearing use the single national minicom number 08457
90 91 92. Log on to www.samaritans.org for more information. Calls from
BT will be charged at up to 4 pence per minute at all times. A call set-up
fee of 3 pence per minute applies to calls
from residential lines. Mobile and other providers' charges may vary.
For further information about this press release or to learn more about Cheltenham Samaritans please contact Graham Tandy, Publicity Officer, Cheltenham Samaritans, Victoria House, Back Albert Place, Cheltenham, GL52 2HN (Phone: 07777 683 448 or email: publicity@cheltenhamsamaritans.org)