I decided I wanted to do some kind of awareness + fundraising after I heard about the loss of Soundgarden's Chris Cornell. There have been a lot of deaths of musicians in the past 18-months, but something about his didn't sit right to me and actually took a small while to deal with. I just wasn't sure when would be the right time, or what I wanted to do.

Recently, my band were booked to play a charity festival in support of the charity Hype 4 Life; a local family-run charity aiming to help prevent suicide in young people, set up by the parents of a young man who also took his own life.

A few days before this festival, I learned of the suicide of another musician - Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. Another huge shock.

Then, at the festival it's self, a member of another band spoke about how a relative of theirs had recently taken their own life just a couple of weeks before the charity festival aimed at suicide prevention

Then, while contemplating all this on the drive home, I remembered something I had previously forgotten about - 4/5 years ago my first-ever girlfriend (who I'd dated when we were 15-16) had taken her own life as well. 

Then I began to think about just how many people I know who have had a friend/relative do the same thing and how recently a lot of those have been, so I have decided that now is the right time.

Something I had read previously goes something like this - "When someone dies of Cancer, we blame Cancer. We don't blame the victim's body for giving up the fight. So why do we blame the victim for giving up the fight against depression?"

I could have organised a Gig, festival, etc but actually I wanted to do something much simpler and a little self-sacrificing. So, on the weekend of the 23rd September, shortly before my birthday, I will be shaving my head for Papyrus in hope to raise money for the funding of such an important cause.

I will also match 10% of the total donations up to a max of £1,000 (10% = £100)

Since "brave the shave" is associated with Cancer normally, I will donate my hair to a charity wigmaker to be made for someone who has lost their hair to cancer treatments

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and even the smallest donation I hope can make a big difference