News
Secret Millionaire Digs Deep for Clacton Charities
Two Clacton charities have been given generous donations totalling nearly £50,000 by celebrity hairdresser, Adee Phelan, as part of the latest Channel 4 Secret Millionaire TV series.
Adee along with workers and clients from both charities will star in the opening episode of the new series which begins this coming Sunday, 16th October at 9.00pm.
Open Road is the leading drug and alcohol addiction support charity operating across Essex and Suffolk. Inclusion Ventures supports vulnerable young people at risk of exclusion from their communities. Both charities offer services in Clacton and Jaywick but until now, for financial reasons, opening times at Jaywick have been very limited.
Open Road Chief Executive, Sarah Wright said, “We were completely taken in by the film crew and hairdresser, ‘James’ when they visited us during May and June. We’d understood they were making a documentary about ‘Pop-Up Britain’ where businesses set up to trade on a temporary basis. They wanted volunteers from Open Road to help paint the hairdressing salon for ‘James’. We were shocked but absolutely delighted when ‘James’ – now revealed as Secret Millionaire, Adee Phelan - handed us a large cheque. Along with our new partners from Inclusion Ventures, this will allow us to operate a joint drop-in service 5 days per week.”
Inclusion Ventures manager, Sarah Hanness added, “We are so grateful to Adee and are pretty overwhelmed by the size of his donation. He obviously understood the value of what we are doing and had huge empathy with the clients he met. By joining forces with Open Road, together we’ll be able to offer a far better support service to vulnerable people across the community. Having a joint drop in centre will make it so much easier for people to find us and access our services.”
Adee Phelan started his career in hairdressing at the age of 25. In 2002 he joined forces with Nicky Edgeley to set up Strangeways hair salon in Leigh on Sea. In 2002 his career really took off when he styled David Beckham's hair for the GQ shoot prior to the World Cup. This won Adee the image of the year award 2002. Adee's creative styling has graced the fashion covers of many top magazines, and he appeared on Channel 4's successful series, 'The Salon'. He has also featured in "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!", "The Weakest Link", "Soccer AM", "Match of the Day", "The Late Late Show" and ITV's "Celebrity Stitch Up".
To launch the new partnership, Open Road and Inclusion Ventures will jointly host a celebration Halloween party at the Jaywick centre on Monday 31st October from 4.00pm – 6.00pm. Local residents, clients, workers, volunteers and partner organisations are expected to attend.
Notes to Editors:
Open Road is a registered charity and leading provider of drug and alcohol treatment services in the East of England. For over 20 years Open Road has delivered high quality services to empower individuals and families to recover from the harmful impact of drugs and alcohol. Every year Open Road helps thousands of individuals and their families, offering a range of one to one support, group therapy and harm reduction services. Open Road currently employs 90 staff and has a team of over 100 volunteers who actively support our work.
Open Road is funded through both the Essex and the Suffolk Drug and Alcohol Action Partnerships, Primary Care Trusts, the Big Lottery Fund, charitable trusts and individual donations. In 2010/11 Open Road is expected to receive over £2 million in income.
For further information about this event and Open Road please contact: Carol Macaskill, Marketing & Communications Manager on tel: 01206 369782 Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).