Dear wonderful friends and important people, 

Last October I attended Paul’s funeral, an extremely talented chef who devastatingly took his own life, leaving behind his partner Fanny, and son Owen, who had just turned 6.

This brought back memories of the tragic loss of my brother-in-law, David, also to suicide. Sadly, what David and Paul shared was that no one knew the extent to which they were suffering, and no-one ever will.

Now claiming more lives than cancer, heart disease or any other illness, suicide is the number one killer for men under 50. These men are our sons, nephews, partners, uncles, husbands, brothers, friends and colleagues. 

Losing a loved one to suicide is so painfully hard to comprehend, and to come to terms with, especially for those closest.

So now I find myself driven to doing something, something which just may be able to prevent a death from suicide, which may enable an unnoticed to get noticed, something which might spare the families and friends so dreadfully affected by this tragic loss. 

Twelve weeks prior, wanting to improve my public speaking skills I signed up on A Stand-Up comedy course at The Comedy School in London. My Sunday afternoons became very different, culminating in a live, on stage Showcase set at the Bethnal Green Backyard Comedy Club

As the weeks progressed and the Showcase date loomed, the fear factor increased! On week 4, I decided that I had learnt the lessons, and really didn’t need to put myself through the hassle and humiliation of Showcase. Skilfully, our teacher Keith gently cajoled me into facing the ultimate ‘test’ – a live performance! 

And, so, I did it        CLICK HERE TO VIEW AFTER DONATING

Now, even scarier than actually performing in front of strangers is knowing that you, through your generosity, could be clicking below to watch my performance.

This fills me with even greater dread, but, as this little adventure has taught me, being brave this time, was about showing vulnerability, and I have reached my ‘bravery peak’ by sharing this video link with you. 

But there is a price. A price to see Amanda do stand-up... who knows, you might be my material! Go on! Please just give to have a wee peek. 

Please donate, then get your link to the Stand-Up comedy routine above

I managed 22 titters in 5 minutes. So that’s worth already a £22?! Maybe £1 a second for the sheer embarrassment I brought upon myself??? 

I only align myself with the best people ( that’s you) and I will be working with two very brilliant charities Hospitality Action and Shaw Mind Foundation to design, develop and deliver a Mental Health awareness programme, initially aimed at the Hospitality sector, and then for wider use in other industries equally affected by high suicide rates.

I need to resource the creation of practical, easily accessible tools, that will land in a chef’s lap, make them stop to think there’s another path, that there is help, and that it doesn’t mean they have to stop living. 

That’s worth a gift. 

Thank you so much for supporting me, wonderful people, I know you can help

Love Amanda x

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