Bereaved shining a light on suicide

The Ashton-based Anthony Seddon Fund is supporting Shine a Light on Suicide by encouraging people to step out for a 19-mile sponsored walk. 

Each mile represents one of the 19 Tameside lives lost to suicide in 2019.

The charity aims to raise awareness of how people can work together to prevent more lives being lost to suicide. 

They are asking people to walk the 19 miles between now and Christmas, sponsored by their friends, family and colleagues.

Those bereaved by suicide have already been taking part.

Shaun Bishop and the 1st team at Stalybridge Celtic have completed their miles in memory of Andy Cowley, an avid fan of Celtic, raising £1,679 to date. 

The Anthony Seddon Fund also lit candles in memory of Andy.

Meanwhile Faye Callan and Rachel Rafferty are also taking up the challenge, doing the 19 miles in one day, covering each town in Tameside. 

Beginning in Mossley, they’ll move on to Ashton, Droylsden, Audenshaw, Denton, Dukinfield, Hyde, Longdendale, before finishing their journey at Stalybridge Celtic Football Club.

There, they’ll be met by family and friends in a socially distanced celebration. Rachel intends to set off at 8am and estimates the walk will take about seven hours. 

On her motivation for doing this, she said: “I’ve struggled myself with mental health over the years and I actually lost my brother, Rob, to suicide in 2008. 

“I’ve always found exercise is my release and my escape, so I do keep active in general.

“With gyms closing and people feeling more isolated cause of lockdown, I think it’s really important to raise awareness and encourage people to get out, because it does help your mental health massively.

“We are doing an extra mile for anybody that’s struggling this year in 2020, and I’ll be personally dedicating it to my brother, so it’ll be 20 miles altogether.”

During the walk they’ll also have a photographer to meet them and you can follow their progress on Facebook. 

Already, they have raised 39 per cent of their donation target and will be taking donation buckets out so people can contribute to the cause. 

To take part, go to https://www.justgiving.com/t-a-s-f

The Anthony Seddon Fund would also like to thank Debra Merington, Yvonne Walmsley, Lynne Booth and Megan Hesketh who are participating in the 19 mile walk too.