Talk Radio Europe annual telethon

EVERY year, the staff and management of Talk Radio Europe, the English language radio station that transmits programmes from Gibraltar to the Balearics raises funds for the Cudeca cancer charity, and on Friday November 25 their telethon was transmitted from 10am to 7pm with various items being auctioned for the charity.

It is not just a one day activity as planning started months ago with the concept of a printed and online cookery book and listeners throughout their regions have sent in recipes for the Fail Safe Recipe Book which is now on sale at a number of outlets or can be ordered via the website www.talkradioeurope.com.

In the run up to the telethon, listeners and local companies were been invited to send in goods to be auctioned and there have been a number of fund raising events, the most popular it seems being quizzes with entry fees being passed to the telethon.

Prior to the main on air auction, items with a value of less than €50 were auctioned online but the main items of value were held back for the nine hour marathon where most of the TRE presenters took it in turns to describe the items and encourage listeners to bid for them.

There was a whole range of different items including, meals for two, holiday getaways, massages, golf passes, visits to UK theatre, drum lessons, paintings and even a signed Fender Telecaster guitar donated by sometime Marbella resident Rick Parfitt of Status Quo.

By the end of the day, the telethon had raised nearly €35,000 to help those suffering from the scourge that is cancer and the radio station will be leaving the appeal open as they expect to collect a great deal more as the days pass, possibly exceeding last year’s total. Even if it is too late to bid for any of the items, anyone may donate money to the telethon or leave a message about a loved one who has passed away in a dedicated online area in return for a small donation.

Euro Weekly News was invited to see the hard work going on at the studios and our picture shows presenters Hannah Murray and Dave Hodgson together with helpers keeping track of bids for the TRE telethon.