Throughout the month of May, I am hoping to raise £1,000 for Alcohol Change UK by cycling 1,000km.

During the month I will also be sticking to a vegan diet and going alcohol free, a real triple whammy of challenges, AND….There’s more! When I reach my target of £1,000, the beard that has been growing for 14 months during the lockdowns will be fully shaved off! If you needed an incentive to donate, now you have it.

Why am I doing this you might be asking yourself. Since the turn of the year I have read a few reports about alcohol deaths hitting a record high during the Covid pandemic, but, as with a lot of issues and illnesses at the moment, the alarming figures are being overlooked due to the ongoing pandemic.

Alcohol is a part of many of our lives, and we treat it differently to other drugs with it being legal, socially acceptable and even encouraged. In the UK, one person every hour dies as a result of alcohol, and it is not just an individual who is harmed by alcohol, that person is part of a family and community who will also feel the effects. Alcohol is used by some people as a way to be able to cope, or to escape, and before long, some people go from having one glass of wine when cooking a nice meal, to two glasses which becomes three and then a bottle, two bottles, hidden bottles. And that’s when the realisation hits that there’s a problem. But, with the huge stigma around being labelled an alcoholic, it makes it really difficult for those struggling to ask for help they desperately need. Deaths caused by alcohol hit a record high in 2020, up 16% on the 2019 figures, and a lot of people with an addiction to alcohol feel they are unable to reach out for help that is widely available that they desperately need.

As with all illnesses, the stats aren’t just numbers, they’re people. They’re mums, dads, brothers, sisters, friends and colleagues who are losing their lives to alcohol, a substance so widely accepted and encouraged, but one so controlling, addictive and life-threatening. Losing my dad to alcohol related issues last year has really opened my eye on how I, and everyone for that matter, view alcohol, and I am passionate to help charities such as Alcohol Change UK support those affected by alcohol harm.

Alcohol Change UK work for a society that is free from the harm caused by alcohol, they are not anti-alcohol; they are for alcohol change in which people drink as a conscious choice and not a default choice. They help to tackle issues that may lead to alcohol problems such as mental health issues, and help those who drink too much, and those associated and impacted by that harm too, to have access to high quality support whenever it’s needed, without shame or stigma.

Thank you for the taking the time to visit my page, and thank you for your donations. As well as raising funds for Alcohol Change UK, I hope that this page is also an insightful and helpful area for people. If this manages to help just one person reach out for help it would be a great achievement, one bigger than the challenge I am putting myself through in May.

Aaron MacDonald