The 3 Dads Walking – three suicide-bereaved men who walk in memory of their daughters – are getting their boots on again and this time they will be walking down the east side of the country, finishing in Norwich. Tim Owen, who lives in Norfolk, gives this update.
Tim Owen, Mike Palmer and Andy Airey, otherwise known as 3 Dads Walking, had a bit of break from walking hundreds of miles last year – although speaking to Tim, it doesn’t sound as though they had too much of a break, for one reason or another. All three dads lost their daughters to suicide. Andy lost his daughter, Sophie in 2018, Mike had lost Beth in March 2020, and Tim, who is in the RAF and has lived in Norfolk for years, lost Emily that same month. On March 18, Emily decided she couldn’t cope with life under lockdown and attempted to take her own life – she died, five days later, in the hospital where she had been born 19 years earlier.
In 2021, they teamed up to walk 300 miles in their memory. Starting at Andy’s home in Cumbria, the route took them through Sale, where Mike lives, finishing their journey at Tim’s home in west Norfolk, all to raise money and awareness for PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide.
In 2022, 3 Dads Walking focussed on getting suicide prevention added to the school curriculum as a compulsory topic, completing the 600 miles between the four parliament buildings of the UK.
So what was it like NOT walking last year? ‘It was weird to tell the truth,’ says Tim, ‘but we had so much stuff on. We’ve been working with the Government and were down there so many times speaking to the PM, the Secretary of State for Education, the Minister of State for Schools and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Suicide and Self Harm. It’s quite refreshing really – you do see MPs of all sides of the house coming together.
‘We can keep walking and keep raising money, but the important point for us is to try and make social change. If we can do the prevention stuff earlier on it’s better than doing the cure stuff when people are in crisis.’
The school curriculum campaign is ongoing. ‘We are optimistic – everything we have heard from the Government is positive – but there’s just been a bit of a slowdown.’
In addition, the trio were busy supporting other parents doing walks in memory of their children. There was a ‘3 Mums walking’, for example, plus Emma Webb walked from South Wales to London pulling a life-sized resin horse, in memory of her daughter Brodie, who she lost to suicide in 2020. ‘We all walked with her and helped her out – she’s doing some great stuff with therapy horses.’
To date, the 3 Dads Walking have generated well over £1m for PAPYRUS, and this has enabled the charity to accelerate its growth plans. Last year it extended the opening hours of its suicide prevention helpline. ‘It used to be called HopelineUK and was open from 9 in the morning until midnight expanded and it’s now open 24/7,’ says Tim.
PAPYRUS has also been able to open more offices. ‘When we did our first walk there were five hubs/offices around the country and there are now 18 and there are going to be more.’
That got the three men thinking. ‘The idea started to spring for this walk because we’d walked down the western side of the country and so wanted to come down the eastern side. It tied in with highlighting the great work, and the expansion of, PAPYRUS. We looked at where they were opening their new offices, or hubs, and we decided to walk between five of those.
A Walk of Hope 2024 begins on April 17 at the PAPYRUS office in Stirling, Scotland and ends 25 days later outside City Hall in Norwich, on May 11. The target for this walk is to raise £100,000.
‘We are starting in Stirling and then we are going to Newcastle, Leeds, Hull then finally to Norwich.’ Although he adds: The Norwich office isn’t open yet, so we are going to finish at City Hall.’
Prior to all that, Tim adds: ‘We are releasing a book about the first walk and it’s coming out in April, so about two weeks before we set off.’
Norfolk is very much Tim’s ‘patch’. ‘We are going to be hitting Norfolk on the 8th of May when we go through King’s Lynn and out towards Castle Rising. Then on the 9th of May we pick up the Peddars Way to Litcham, and on the 10th we’re going along the Nar Valley Way and finishing at Taverham about five miles from Norwich.’ On the final day, the 11th, they expect to arrive outside City Hall at around 9.30am.
‘We are really looking forward to walking again and meeting people.’ Where are they going to be staying? ‘We only launched on Wednesday, and we’ve already got 22 nights out of 25 already sorted – with friends, friends of friends or people who have heard about us.’
Norfolk Fire and Rescue, and The Lieutenancy Office in the county are both offering support. ‘There will be lots of supporters as we come into Norfolk,’ says Tim. And it works both ways: ‘There are loads of brilliant charities and people who do brilliant stuff, we can highlight that.’
He makes the point: ‘We walk for Papyrus but there are so many fantastic organisations. When we did our first walk we were met in King’s Lynn by the 8:56 Foundation, which had only just started in there.
This time round, people involved with rural mental health support charity, YANA: You Are Not Alone and the Samaritans are helping with accommodation. ‘There are so many people helping our community out.’
For example, during his year as Chairman of Breckland Council, Cllr Mike Nairn fundraised for Papyrus and Norfolk Mind. ‘He walked and raised well over a thousand pounds for the charity which was brilliant.’
Next month will mark four years since Tim and his family lost their daughter. ‘We were talking about that the other day, at home. Everyone one of these anniversaries is another milestone to navigate – another difficult day. It doesn’t feel like four years. We’ve come a long way.’
He makes the point: ‘There are all these families who have got Christmases, birthdays, and anniversaries to get through. It is hard. The whole point of our walk is to say there is hope out there. It doesn’t matter however dark a place you’re in, there’s a pin prick of light out there and you’ve got to search for it and find it.’
Visit A Walk of Hope 2024 — 3 Dads Walking. Pre-order Three Dads Walking: 300 Miles of Hope, by Mike Palmer, Tim Owen and Andy Airey on Amazon.co.uk. Also, find out more about HOPELINE247 on papyrus-uk.org. The Norwich office is due to open this year.
Featured image supplied by papyrus-uk.org
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