Norfolk Dad starts 300 mile walk to raise awareness about suicide
'Three Dads walking' are supporting the charity PAPYRUS and they begin walking in Cumbria, today
Last updated 22nd Oct 2021
A Dad from Norfolk and two others are walking 300 miles to raise awareness about suicide.
'Three Dads walking' are supporting the charity PAPYRUS and they begin walking in Cumbria, today.
Tim Owens from Kings Lynn will be walking with Andy Airey from Cumbria and Mike Palmer from Greater Manchester.
He told us that the issue of suicide and suicide prevention needs more attention.
"If people are feeling suicide they really need to talk to somebody about it. We lose 200 school children a year to suicide, that's like wiping out a primary school. But because its a small dribble of death, it goes below the radar. It used to be a taboo subject, but it just can't be one of those any more".
He went on to tell us about the origins of the walk, as well as how he and Mike got to know each other.
"Five days after my daughter Em died, another young lady from Manchester, called Beth took her own life as well. My family reached out to Mike's family and we just started talking. Over the coming months myself and Mike were pretty much talking everyday, just validating our emotions".
"Mike thought lets walk from near Penrith to Manchester then across to my house in West-Norfolk. That's pretty much how Three Dads Walking was born, it was literally Mike on his 2010 Ordinance Survey road map drawing two straight lines and saying that will probably take two weeks".
He concluded by saying that they have already raised more money, than they thought they would. But, they would always welcome more
"We started aiming for three thousand pounds each. We put the Just Giving page together in August, by last Monday we had collectively reached ten thousand. By today we are at forty-eight thousand points. It's important to say that every £5 donated supports one call to hope-line UK