TV and radio personality Martin Roberts said he was very proud to officially launch The Martin Roberts Foundation along with its trustees at the Victoria Art Gallery in his home city of Bath.
Invited guests enjoyed canapés and drinks provided by Loraine and the team at Morgan-Brinkhurst Consultancy Events and Martin talked about the charity, with a presentation featuring Dame Esther Rantzen, Jeremy Vine and The Hoff reading excerpts from the Sadsville Children’s book.
Martin said: “I am truly delighted to launch my Foundation at such a pivotal time in terms of national child safeguarding agendas, not only from a personal perspective to help give back, but also in relation to how themes such as child wellness, welfare and education are finally getting the attention they deserve.
“The mission of The Martin Roberts Foundation is to support educational, safe guarding and wellbeing initiatives for children and young people.
“This could involve understanding behavioural shifts through bullying and social or mental health challenges; encouraging children to reach out for help and support; or helping to empower a new generation of responsible young people through financial education.”
In 2018, the main project for the Foundation is to raise £500,000 to print and deliver a free copy of Martin’s book Sadsville to every child aged 8-9 in the UK, the age group identified by NSPCC research as currently least likely to use the Childline phone help line.
Sadsville, part of Martin’s The Villes series of books, was specially written by him to encourage children to seek to change upsetting circumstances, and also to use Childline if they need help and support to do so.
It sits alongside the NSPCC ‘Speak Out, Stay Safe’ campaign, and it has been personally endorsed by Dame Esther Rantzen DBE, founder of Childline.
Dame Esther said: “Thank you for creating this highly entertaining and original way of raising children’s awareness of how they can reach out for help through support services such as Childline. I wish the Sadsville book project every success.”
As well as Dame Esther Rantzen DBE, other well-known celebrities have read extracts from the book and have offered their support to the campaign including; David Hasselhoff, Jeremy Vine, Ben Shepherd and Kate Garraway. A celebrity video edition of the book is planned as part of the project.
Sadsville features the problem-solving character Herman, who helps people living in each of the different Villes to find solutions to their problems.
His approach takes a “helicopter view” and encourages a different way of looking at things. Whilst the Villes stories are whimsical, they have a message and can help children to find ways to solve their own problems, or to seek help.
The Childline number is featured in the Sadsville book, together with contact details for other appropriate support services.
The Martin Roberts Foundation will also be the main beneficiary of Martin’s other exciting recent venture, the Achieve Health, Wealth & Happiness expo, established in Bath in October 2017.
Further Achieve events are planned for 2018/19. More information about these will be released at the Martin Roberts Foundation launch, and over the next few months.
For more information about The Martin Roberts Foundation, visit: www.martinrobertsfoundation.org.
