Video: Shropshire man joins Dame Esther Rantzen and Wayne Rooney in call for more ChildLine volunteers
A man from Shropshire who used the NSPCC's ChildLine service when he was being bullied has joined Dame Esther Rantzen and England captain Wayne Rooney in a campaign to appeal to more volunteers.
Adam Bennett, from Cleobury Mortimer, who was just 10-years-old when he contacted ChildLine about being badly bullied at school.
In 1986, the helpline service ChildLine received its first call and it quickly became the place children turned to when no one else was listening.
As ChildLine celebrates its 30th anniversary it warns of the pressures of modern life creating a generation of children sadly plagued by loneliness and low self-esteem.
Whilst the nature of calls may have changed over the thirty years, the abundance of calls and contact from children in desperate need of help never dwindles.
When ChildLine first launched, calls largely focused on pregnancy, bullying, physical and sexual abuse, and while thousands of children are still reporting these issues, in 2014/15 ChildLine conducted 35,244 counselling sessions addressing low self-esteem alone; with the most common new dangers being cyber-bullying, grooming, and self-harming.
ChildLine has always received high profile support from Princess Diana to legendary singer Tom Jones. Joining that list is England skipper, Wayne Rooney who is urging people to volunteer.
