After completing the London Marathon in October with a semi-unrespectable time of 5 hours and 4 minutes, I felt I had some unfinished business. With yours and others help we managed to raise just under £1,300 for Alzheimer’s Society. However, this time I’m looking to raise money for something that has had a much more immediate impact in my life over the last 6 months; Andys Man Club (https://andysmanclub.co.uk/). At an extremely difficult period in my life I didn’t have many places to turn aside from my direct family and one close friend. Working from home was extremely isolating, but a colleague of mine heard of AMC from a footballing podcast. Despite being filled with all levels of anxiety I drove across to Altrincham (my nearest club at Alty FC) and walked through those doors. I haven’t missed a Monday night since. The level of support and freedom to talk about what’s on your mind is second to none to any other service out there. I literally wouldn’t be the person I am right now without the guys who attend and the facilitators that help steer the conversation. 

ANDYSMANCLUB takes its name from Andrew Roberts, a man who sadly took his own life aged 23 in early 2016. Andy’s family had no inkling that he was suffering or struggling to the extent that he would do this, and as a result looked deeper into male suicide and men’s mental health. They soon discovered that male suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50, with male mental health surrounded by well-ingrained cultural stigma in the UK.

Elaine Roberts and Luke Ambler are Andy’s Mum and Brother-in-Law, together they came up with the idea of ANDYSMANCLUB, a group where men aged 18 and above can speak openly about their mental health in a judgement-free, non-clinical environment. Groups now operate nationwide and are completely volunteer-led, with the vast majority of group facilitators having first interacted with ANDYSMANCLUB when they came through the door as a service user.

With over 100 clubs now operating weekly every Monday night, the service used by over 2,000 men, and an army of 500+ facilitators, the movement is always continuing to grow on a week-by-week basis.