A CHARITY walk in south east Cornwall has raised over £4,000 for a charity that supports men with mental health challenges.

Around 150 people walked from Looe to Polperro to raise money and awareness for Man Down UK, an organisation formed in Cornwall that aims to break the stigma surrounding men’s mental health and reduce the number of male suicides.

The event came to fruition after Alistair Graham posted a video on his Facebook page, explaining that he was going to do a charity walk to support Man Down and that anyone who would like to come along with him would be more than welcome to.

After the video was shared on social media and posters went up at venues across Looe and Polperro, Alistair turned up at the starting point, in Hannafore, to find that around 150 people had gathered to join him on his journey across the south coast.

Speaking to the Cornish Times, Alistair said: “I did a quick video online saying that I’m going for a walk for the charity, and that if anyone local wants to join me, they can chuck a fiver in and come along. Apart from putting some posters and posting online, we didn’t organise anything else.

“The next minute, I’m at the start line with 150 people who have made a donation and are joining me on my long walk. We had lads from 17 right up to 65. They did an amazing job and it was a very enjoyable day in beautiful sunshine.

“We put a beer jug out at the finish line in Polperro and in not time at all, the lads chucked £580 into the jug to add to what we had already raised.”

As well as supporting a very worthy cause, the walk also gave participants the chance to talk to each other by sharing stories and advice with one another.

Alistair continued: “The walk went really good and lads got to meet new people and chat to them about different stories.

“One gentleman I spoke to said that his son had taken his life just a couple of months ago, and that today was the first time he had actually left his house since. He said to me that he would like to speak to the younger generation about what suicide does to parents, and the ripple effect it has on people.”

“A lot of men managed to get a good chat out of the walk and now the proceeds are going to an amazing charity. In Cornwall, we’ve got the worst rate of young men taking their lives and Man Down desperately need more money. Quite a few of the people that took part have used Man Down before or already know what a good organisation it is.”

“I want to triple the numbers next year and I had men coming up to me saying they would definitely do this again. We want to do this annually now, and next year we’re going to it from Polperro to Looe next September to coincide with Looe’s music festival.”

To make a donation to Alistair’s GoFundMe page, visit: www.gofundme.com/f/walk-for-lads