Male suicide is a massive issue in Salford and beyond; the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK, with 84 men taking their lives each week. Earlier this month there was a vigil at Salford Quays for those who had committed suicide, and when three close friends of Daniel Hobbs also took their lives, he and others decided to do something...and that something is BIG!
They aim to raise £50,000 for the Campaign Against Living Miserably, or CALM, which is leading a movement against suicide in young men, and have got fifty people to do a 24 hour sponsored walk from Rhyl to Salford...
"Over the last year we have lost three close friends due to taking their own life" Daniel explains "The more we talk about this the more we hear how this has affected so many people we know. I was looking at raising awareness in some format after we lost the second friend this year and then we lost a third within a short time.
"Myself and Nick Broomhead were in the pub having a chat and decided that we needed to act straight away to raise awareness, and decided on the charity CALM" he adds "This then set the ball rolling, and we put a project team together, including John Mottershead and Angelo Shanahan, to look for something that was within the reach and capabilities of the group of people we know without alienating anyone.
"Walking seemed the simplest task to get as many involved as possible, and this is when the Rhyl to Salford in 24 hours evolved" he says "We now have a team of fifty people taking part with a support team to help us along the way.
"This is the hardest physical challenge any of us will have taken on before but with your support and donations we hope to achieve our goal" he adds "We will have trained in excess of five hundred miles and already have many blisters to remind just exactly what we are doing! We have a target of £50,000 which is a big ask but will help so many people out and help CALM continue doing the good work they do."
The team, which now has the support of Salford Red Devils, will be setting off from Rhyl on 20th October at 7am and will walk the sixty miles to Salford in 24 hours. A donation of £7 can pay for one call which can save a life. A donation £160 can fund one phone line for an evening...
Daniel has set up a Just Giving page for people to donate – click here for details
For more details of the work of CALM – click here
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