A RETIRED Stourbridge teacher is talking about the town as she hopes to raise money and awareness for a Black Country domestic abuse support group.

Jean Lewis-Millward will be holding a 12 hour-long talk-a-thon in the Crown Centre-based Tesco supermarket on Friday August 26, in aid of Survivors of Domestic Abuse (SODA).

Customers in store have chosen 36 – non-political – topics relating to Stourbridge for Jean to talk about during her half-day stint.

Jayne Budd, Tesco Stourbridge’s community champion, said: “We’re really looking forward to welcoming Jean into the store and we will hopefully get many people down here to raise as much money as we can for a wonderful cause.

“The topics have all been set and Jean will pick a subject at random to talk about for 20 minutes. After a quick break she will be back again with her next topic.

“She is very much a Stourbridge person and has so many interesting things to say about the town and about things that have happened here.”

Jean will start the first of her marathon 20-minute talks in the store from 9.30am before finishing at 9.30pm.

The town’s Tesco store has already raised more than £1,000 for SODA, with its ultimate aim of helping the group, founded by Lye resident Sam Billingham, to gain registered charity status.

Jayne added: “Sam approached Wayne (Barker, store manager) and us as staff to see if there was anything we can do to help their fundraising.

“The work she does to help people who have been affected by domestic abuse is brilliant and we wanted to do all we can to make it even more successful.

“Rather than being officially supported by Tesco, this is more of a personal and private cause for us colleagues. We wanted to help Sam out and get a SODA registered as an official Stourbridge charity.”

For more information about Survivors of Domestic Abuse, visit www.sodahq.org