A lot of you will know that I lost a dear friend recently to suicide. Mark was a huge fun-loving character in our circle of friends, a guy you would never realise had troubled thoughts behind his cheeky beaming smile.

There is a scarily high suicide rate in Great Britain, especially amongst young men. In 2022 the suicides registered were 5,284 this was 65 more than in 2021. I know this sounds glum but its real and there is help out there from charities like the Samaritans. The Samaritans respond to a call for help every 10 seconds and the more funds they have, the more people they can help.

When you lose someone to suicide you feel completely helpless, like you need to do something because you feel you failed as a friend.

So this is why I want to try and raise some funds for this amazing charity and I've signed up to The Great North Run this September.

If anyone can spare any money at all to sponsor me and support the Samaritans, it could really make a difference to people out there that are struggling.

A massive thank you in advance to any of my friends and family that can afford to donate anything at all. Let's help to provide support for people like Mark that desperately needed it.

Thank you and keep talking

Shane x