Apologies this has taken me so long to set up. 

You may or may not know that Graeme McBride, alumni of De Montfort University, Leicester and former member of mainly the football team but also the rugby team (especially for the social aspect) took his own life on 19th January 2019. 

I hadn't spoken to G for a number of years, so can't claim to know what he had been through or what he had found so difficult that he felt that this was his only option. What I do know is that for someone to feel that, it must be an incredibly lonely place. When we first get to University, it can feel a little like that, when you don't know anybody and you're just trying to fit in. Fortunately for me, in my first game for the DMU 3s, I had an old man playing alongside me who made me feel part of the team straight away and I can honestly say was the first person that made me feel welcome as part of the football team. 

G had a rough exterior, I think we can all agree on that. He literally slapped me around the back of the head every time it looked like my eyes might close on the way BACK from football tour in 2002 - telling me in that Northern Irish whisper after he'd lost his voice, as usual, that I had a pea-size ticker if I thought I was getting some sleep! 

Underneath that exterior though was clearly a caring, decent bloke. He loved his mates and would always be the first to back you up. I know he took the loss of Downsey, another good DMU rugby lad, hard. I hadn't seen G in years, but I'll be forever grateful to him for making me feel welcome at Uni in those first few weeks. A number of us ex-DMU football lads wanted to do something in his memory and Neil, his brother, asked that we donate to Mindwise, to support them in helping others who are in the same position Graeme was. I'm hoping we can show a collective DMU dustbin lid ticker and raise a decent sum of money in memory of one of our own who is gone far too soon. I haven't set the target, let's just do what we can. 

Keldy  - OH DMU....

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