Shropshire’s first live telethon to broadcast this evening

The Unheard Shropshire telethon will feature live music, interesting guests, chat, charity documentaries and testimonials; and will broadcast live from The Lord Hill Hotel in Shrewsbury from 7pm until 1am.

Presenters during the evening include Robert Harper, Steph Invis, Vicki Archer and Nina Blakemore.

Artists taking part in the event which will be headlined by Fight the Bear, include: The Clocktower, Not Completely Blonde, Gary Nolan,Why Not Now?, Andy O'Brien, Rob Jones, Jack Taylor & Friends, Jonny Keely, Belladonna and Chrisbee.

Jonny Keeley, lead singer of Fight The Bear said: “This is a great project. Bringing together musicians from all over Shropshire putting them in one place to raise money and awareness for local cancer care.”

“We have just returned from touring in Germany and The Netherlands and are in the process of releasing our third album in the next few months. We are excited to be performing at this event and it is amazing for us to get the opportunity to help make a real difference to the county that raised us.”

The event will also be backed by social media experts Holly Whittles, Heather Noble and Chris Pritchard. During the broadcast the three will interact with those watching online and at the event using the twitter hashtag #USLDAppeal follow @CountyChannelTV or like their facebook page for updates.

Robert Harper, Managing Director of County Channel TV said: “We are really looking forward to this event, and helping the team to achieve their goal of raising over £25,000.

“After the event, we will be packaging up parts of the live broadcast and showing them online for 2 months up till the end of January 2013.”

Raising money for the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund
All the money raised during the telethon will go to the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund, an independent charity that is dedicated to supporting quality cancer care for patients in Shropshire and Mid Wales.

Through the funding of equipment and buildings, the Charity aims to improve facilities, enabling patients to be treated and diagnosed in the best environment possible.

The Charity raised £3.2m to fund the building of the new Lingen Davies Centre which was opened at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in September 2012. The centre bring together all the Cancer Services under one roof and provides improved facilities for cancer patients to receive treatment and care. £386,000 was also raised to furnish and equip the centre.

One of those involved in the night is Shropshire business woman Heather Noble, who two year’s ago was coming to terms with the fact that she had cancer. Heather was approached by the County Channel to share her story and support for the Lingen Davies Trust.

“We are very grateful to both County Channel TV and Unheard Shropshire for their wonderful support in putting on this telethon,” said Louise Cliffe, Acting Fundraising Manager for Lingen Davies.

“We rely on the support we get from the public and it is always great when new supporters recognise the work we are doing and choose to get involved.

“We have recently completed fundraising appeals that brought in more than £3.2 million to go towards the new cancer centre at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital as well as funding new furniture and fittings throughout. The money that is raised from this telethon will go towards improving facilities for local cancer patients in Shropshire and mid Wales.”

Supported by BBC Radio Shropshire
BBC Radio Shropshire will also broadcast live from the Unheard Shropshire event. The station will include some of the local artist performances on its regular BBC Introducing show between 7-9pm.

Managing Editor Tim Beech says: “BBC Radio Shropshire’s extremely proud of the musical talent in our county and we’re keen to help put it on display. We started our unsigned artists’ show more than six years ago – since then we’ve broadcast literally hundreds of recordings made by Shropshire musicians. Many of them have also given live studio performances and reached thousands of people as a result.

“Part of our job as Shropshire’s radio station is to celebrate the gifted people in our communities and to enable their talents to be enjoyed by a wide audience.”

Watch Online
Watch the telethon from 7pm this evening at http://www.countychannel.tv/.

How to Donate
You can make a difference by donating online now via Just Giving.

You can also donate by texting USLD99 £* (* indicates quantity donated) to 70070.

To donate £5, you simply send the message USLD99 £5 to the shortcode number 70070 and 100% of the money goes to the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund!