CHILDLINE founder Dame Esther Rantzen has praised young volunteers from Glasgow who are counselling desperate children over the phone and online.

In the last year alone (2016-17), the bases in Glasgow and Aberdeen conducted 49,215 counselling sessions with young people as well as more than 38,402 sessions related to bullying, neglect, abuse and family relationships.

Dame Esther hailed the role of the Glasgow Childline base, the first Childline centre to introduce 16 and 17-year-old volunteers in a pioneering initiative which has now been rolled out across the whole of the UK.

She said: “The Glasgow Childline base has been a real flagship for our charity. It was the first base to introduce 16 and 17-year-old volunteers and I admit, I had reservations about it at the time.

“I am happy to say I was proved wrong, I am delighted to see how brilliantly these young volunteers have worked to make a difference to their own peer groups.

“The success of this has been down to the exceptional skills and commitment of our young volunteers and the excellent quality of training offered to all Childline volunteers.”