Stratford man is ready to run and raise money for Samaritans
THE loss of a life to suicide is followed by shock and a sense of disbelief by those who receive the tragic news and afterwards they will have one question on their minds – why?
It’s a question Richard Tidman, aged 35, from Stratford, has been asking a lot after his godmother took her own life last October.
“I’ve known her for many years – she was like a second mum to me,” Richard told the Herald.
“She lived four doors away from my parent’s house in Stratford and I would talk to her about all kinds of stuff when I was growing up.
“News of her death was a complete shock and had a massive effect on all of us and we will never know why she did it. We just never expected it.”
Born and raised in Stratford, Richard was educated at Bridgetown Primary and Warwick School. He now lives and works in London where he has what he describes as a dream job in the golf travel industry which takes him all over the world to play at top golf courses and stay at luxury hotels in America, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Mauritius.
He’s played golf since he was eight and is a member at Stratford Golf Club. When he’s not on the fairway he’s out running which he says is good for mental health.
But like so many other people, the death of someone close through suicide puts a whole different perspective on life and death.
“It’s scary,” Richard said. “You think everyone’s OK and life goes on as normal but suicide is one of the biggest killers of middle-aged men. As I was driving in London I saw a poster urging people to ‘check on a mate’ and it is so important. When I lost my godmother it shocked all our family and I just can’t bear to think of it happening to someone else.”
Richard has decided to do something that will help raise awareness and funds exclusively for Stratford Samaritans and he and a group of friends are aiming to run 60km from Windsor to Putney along the Thames Pathway on Saturday 17th August.
Richard has worked with Mark Pritchard Jeffs at Samaritans who has helped with a few ideas in the run-up to the challenge.
Mark said: “It’s about the community donating ‘60’. That could be pounds, minutes, kilometres or whatever to allow us to keep up our level of contribution to the Samaritans cause. Every £5 raised is an extra phone call answered, one in every four calls is from someone feeling actively suicidal, so every £20 raised is funding one phone call to someone in that situation (plus three others). We get no government funding.”
Richard will be joined by Jamie Collins, Oli Grove, Tom Wright, Josh Beebee, Tom Goldwater, Gary McIntyre, Jack Gravestock, Rich Vande Putte, Freddie Dixon for the 60k challenge – none of them have ever covered that distance before in one fell swoop on foot.
“It’s a stunning place to go running and we’re doing it to raise money and awareness for Samaritans who currently have a fairly large funding gap. Stratford Samaritans contributes around 20,000 hours of vital listening support to members of the public within the south Warwickshire district.
“Thankfully a number of our close friends, family and good Samaritans have signed up to join us and run some slightly smaller distances on the day along the Thames Pathway,” Richard said.
He added: “To put this into simple terms, without the additional funding that we are trying to help deliver, this branch wouldn’t be able answer around 4,000 calls, 1,000 of which would be from members of our community that are experiencing suicidal thoughts – this shouldn’t be ignored and is important.”
To donate and help Richard reach his target of £2,000 visit www.justgiving.compage/richard-tidman-1715330970716