Spook-a-Thon in the castle to support sexual abuse charity

The One Voice Foundation, a newly formed charity set up to support victims of childhood sexual abuse, is holding a Halloween Spook-a-Thon in Hastings Castle to raise funds. Nick Terdre reports.

The One Voice Foundation has been set up by Sue Adey to help victims of childhood sexual abuse. Sue herself suffered grooming and abuse at secondary school age by a 12-strong ring of men, she tells HOT.

Two have been jailed after she reported their activities, but meanwhile she is trying to track down the others and gather sufficient evidence to bring them to justice.

The charity aims to fill gaps in the support available to victims of child sexual abuse – providing a safe space in which they can talk about the experience, helping them report it to the police, accompanying them on court visits and appointments with the authorities, and not least, campaigning to change the law which prevents survivors from speaking out in public once they have reported abuse.

It also aims to carry out educational work in schools, warning children of the dangers of online grooming and chat rooms.

Since Sue started up The One Voice Foundation, she has been overwhelmed both by offers of help and requests from other victims of childhood sexual abuse wanting to know what to do.

To get the foundation off the ground, she is working to raise the £5,000 needed for it to become a registered charity. To this end a sponsored Spook-a-Thon will be held at Hastings castle on Halloween night with the permission of the council and Blue Reef, which manages the site.

Together with 15 intrepid supporters, armed with tents, tarpaulins and sleeping bags, Sue will spend the night locked in the castle ruins – by morning they may be able to tell us whether the castle really lives up to its reputation of being haunted.

One Voice Foundation can be contacted at theonevoicefoundation@gmail.com. To donate visit its GoFundMe page.

Also in: Hastings People