Today is World Suicide Prevention Day and Tim Owen, one of 3 Dads Walking, will be taking part in the UK’s largest-ever suicide prevention initiative when the Baton of Hope tour comes to Norwich next Wednesday. Here, Tim tells Folk Features what the day will mean
The last time Tim Owen was in Norwich raising awareness around suicide prevention was in May last year, having walked 500 miles from Scotland as part of 3 Dads Walking, the suicide-bereaved dads who walk in memory of their daughters. Suicide is the biggest killer of those under 35 in the UK and Tim, who lives in Shouldham, West Norfolk, had his world turned upside down when, on March 18, 2020, his daughter Emily decided she couldn’t cope with life under lockdown and attempted to take her own life. This was the culmination of years of struggles and a late diagnosis of autism, which was hidden to all but her closest friends and family. Five days later, she died in the hospital where she had been born 19 years earlier.
Through grief, Tim, Mike Palmer and Andy Airey found each other – and a shared purpose: to do something to stop this happening to other families. They co-founded 3 Dads Walking, in memory of Andy’s daughter Sophie, Mike’s daughter Beth, and Emily. Since 2021, they have walked more than 1,500 miles across the UK, raising more than £1.5 million for PAPYRUS, which now has an office in Norwich and offers training for those working with vulnerable adults in the county of Norfolk. Last year they received MBE medals for their fundraising efforts.
Next Wednesday, Tim returns to the city as part of The Baton of Hope, the UK’s largest-ever suicide prevention initiative, which embarked on its first nationwide tour in 2023. This year the tour is coming to Norwich, with this leg of the tour being organised by Norwich Samaritans in partnership with other charities, organisations and individual volunteers across Norwich and Norfolk.
The Lady Dannatt MBE will officially send the Baton on its way during the Opening Ceremony at the Norfolk Showground at 8am. It will then journey through to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and on into Norwich before arriving at Norwich Cathedral, where it will coincide with the “Conversations Around Suicide” Conference. Tim will be one of the speakers, alongside Papyrus; senior coroner Samantha Goward; Lacey, who will offer a teen perspective; the Deputy Governor HMP Norwich; and a Public Health Consultant at Norfolk County Council. The day will end at Carrow Road football ground at 8pm, where the day’s events will culminate in a Closing Ceremony Celebration, and Tim will be joined by the likes of Clive Lewis MP, BBC Look East presenter Susie Fowler Watt and a Norwich City Football Club first team player (TBA).
Andy has already carried the Baton in Cumbria and will be carrying it again in North Lincolnshire on Monday September 15, whereas Mike will do the same in Wrexham on October 4. In 2023, all three dads were baton bearers on its journey through Manchester. “It’s an incredibly powerful day,” says Tim. “This time we all agreed to support it at different places across the UK.” Although the lead organiser of next Wednesday’s event is Norwich Samaritans, Tim says: “Papyrus is a massive part of it and part of the organising committee.”
In June of this year, 3 Dads Walking did a complete circuit of the Ynys Môn/Anglesey Coastal Path to raise funds for HOPELINE247, the lifesaving helpline run by PAPYRUS. “Mike moved to Anglesey a couple of years ago,” says Tim. Coming from Manchester, Mike couldn’t help but notice that mental health services and suicide prevention support were in limited supply in such a rural area. Whereas, as Tim points out: “Being from Cumbria and Norfolk, Andy and I were used to that.” In fact, it was something he was all too aware of “before we lost Em, and in the aftermath…There’s a lot more support in urban areas.”
Then, on July 1, Andy, Mike and Tim were invited to 10 Downing Street for a public sector reception, followed by a meeting with the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Education. A couple of weeks later it was announced that suicide prevention is to be added to the school curriculum in England. It was a momentous day for the dads. “That was absolutely amazing,” says Tim, “we were really pleased.”
So what’s next for 3 Dads Walking? They are still keen to keep the conversation around suicide prevention going; and to push for the same curriculum change in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Tim says: “3 Dads’ focus is very much on putting suicide prevention on curriculums across the UK.” And all the while Tim works full time for the RAF. “I’m having to pace it out,” he says, “there’s stuff that is going on all the time.”
It’s been more than five years since he and his family lost Emily to suicide. “It doesn’t seem like five years since we last saw Em,” says Tim, before adding, “it sometimes hits you out of nowhere, such as when I give a talk, put a picture of Emily’s GCSE art self-portrait on the screen and catch her eye. That really gets you.”
The Baton of Hope Norwich takes place on Wednesday September 17, 2025, starting at the Norfolk Showground at 8am and finishing at Norwich City Football Club at 8pm. The full route map and further information can be found at batonofhopenorwich.co.uk. In the lead-up to this landmark event, on World Suicide Prevention Day (today, Wednesday 10th September), Baton of Hope Norwich is calling on local businesses and organisations of all sizes to show their support by signing the Baton of Hope UK Workplace Pledge – a vital step in making suicide prevention a priority in every workplace. Local employers can register their interest and join the movement at batonofhopeuk.org/workplace-pledge/register-interest-workplace-pledge. Also, visit Papyrus UK Suicide Prevention.
Featured image of Tim Owen and 3 Dads Walking (credit: 3 Dads Walking)
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