Bereaved dads raise over £1.4 million for Warrington based charity

The fathers, who have each lost a child to suicide, have completed three national walks in aid of Papyrus Prevention of Young Suicide.

Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen completed their latest 500 mile walk from Scotland to Norwich, a trek that spanned 25 days.

Tim, who lost his 19-year-old daughter, Emily, to suicide thanked their supporters at the end of the walk.

“People have travelled nationally to be with us,” he said.

“Many of them have been bereaved by suicide, all of them saying Papyrus is such a fantastic charity and we need to continue preventing more suicides.”

The fathers visited some of the newly opened, or soon to be opened, Papyrus hubs on their walk – visiting Stirling, Newcastle, Leeds and Norwich.

“It is very important to have achieved this in terms of fundraising but more importantly raising awareness of the charity and the life-saving work they do,” said Andy, who lost his daughter, Sophie, to suicide.

“This was about refocussing our efforts to help Papyrus achieve its goals and extend the charity across new parts of the country.”

Andy, Mike and Tim holding pictures of their daughters (Image: Papyrus)

The dads completed their first walk in 2021, walking 300-miles.

The following year they doubled the distance, taking on a 600-mile trek between the parliaments of all four nations in the UK.

“We walk in memory of our girls and sadly, if we don’t so something positive, we will lose more and more children,” said Mike, who lost his 17-year-old daughter, Beth, to suicide.

“We have been joined by parents every day along the way and hearing their stories is absolutely heart-breaking.

“We don’t want other families to have to experience the terrible grief that we do, that’s why we do what we do.”

The dads completed their latest walk in Norwich (Image: Papyrus)

Papyrus, which was founded in 1997, has its head office in Warrington and is the leading youth suicide prevention charity in the UK.

More than £1.4million has been raised through the fundraiser, including £10,000 from Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman and football legend Lou Macari.

“They’ve walked 500-miles, life with every step. Every story shared is a life saved,” said Ged Flynn, chief executive of Papyrus.

“The three dads walking have already captured the nations hears, after all what could be more important than the wellbeing of our children and saving young lives?”

To find out more about the three walking dads, click here.

For practical, confidential suicide prevention help and advice contact Papyrus Hopeline247 on 0800 068 4141, text 88247 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org.