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Journalists’ Charity carol service, St Bride’s, Dec 19

St Bride's, the journalists' church, off Fleet Street
St Bride’s, the journalists’ church, off Fleet Street

The Journalists’ Charity will be having its annual Christmas Carols at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, London on Monday December 19. Doors open at 6.30pm.

Guest readers will include Martin Ivens, Editor at The Sunday Times, Thorold Barker, Editor at The Wall Street Journal Europe, Anne McElvoy, senior editor at The Economist, Elizabeth Rigby, senior political correspondent at Sky News, Christian May, Editor at City AM, and Sue Ryan, the chair of the Journalists’ Charity.

The event is free to attend and there’s no need to book in advance.

You’ll also get a glass of wine and a mince pie.

The charity is hoping that those who attend the carol service, and many more SJA members who might not be able to do so, return the favour with donations of less than the cost of a pint or a glass of wine per month to help The Journalists’ Charity maintain its valuable work and extend it apppeal to more colleagues.

No two cases are the same, no reasons are the same, no needs are the same

The charity has regularly been the nominated fund at the Sports Journalists’ Association annual awards, and in 2015-2016 more than £4,000 was raised at the Association’s events for the cause.

Formerly known as the Newspaper Press Fund and founded in 1864 by Charles Dickens and others – works with other charities including NUJ Extra, the Printing Charity and Stepchange to ensure the best help and advice are available to retired journalists and others who may be in distress.

For a donation of £3 per month, journalists can contribute towards the charity’s work in running its retirement and care homes at Dorking, Surrey, and in making grants (£300,000 to 130 cases in 2016) to ease such problems as ill health, the break-up of a relationship, redundancy or plain bad luck. Recent recipients of grants include a retired foreign correspondent, a former theatre and film critic, and the widow of a football writer.

No two cases are the same, no reasons are the same, no needs are the same. What they all have in common is that there is no-one else they can turn to for support.

“We’re looking for a commitment of only £3 per month – less than the price of pint or glass of wine,” Sue Ryan said. “It’s a cheap round but one that can really transform the lives of people and we hope that journalists across the country embrace the campaign.”

Find out more about the Charity at www.journalistscharity.org.uk

To support the campaign, email give3@yourround.org.uk.