CORONATION Street legend Wendi Peters has paid tribute to charity fundraisers whose generosity has helped hundreds of children in Devon and Cornwall over the past 11 months.

Wendi, best known for playing Cilla Battersby-Brown in the soap between 2003 - 2014, is a long-time supporter of the NSPCC.

Last July the charity received a £100,000 grant from the People’s Postcode Lottery and has since been spent on the charity’s school service activities in the two counties.

Area coordinators and volunteers deliver Speak Out, Stay Safe assemblies and workshops at primary schools across Devon and Cornwall.

The workshops focus on safeguarding messages to ensure pupils know what abuse is in all of its forms, how to keep them safe and how to identify a ‘trusted adult’ to speak to if they are worried.

NSPCC research shows that, on average, at least one in two children in every primary school classroom have suffered some form of abuse or neglect.

Wendi said: ‘With child abuse becoming more prominent in today’s media, we continue to hear the devastating stories of children’s lives being torn apart.

‘The NSPCC is tackling this by educating children to recognise the signs of abuse,’ she added.

The TV star also thanked the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery as they have made the NSPCC’s work possible.

Since the service was launched in 2010, there have been more than 250 school visits in Devon and more than 16,000 pupils have been spoken to.