Charity champions set to walk 26 miles on CHRISTMAS DAY to support those struggling with mental health
Brian Leslie Baines, 50, and Daryl Parkinson, 28, will walk from the Lab Gym at the Headland all the way to the top of Roseberry Topping on Christmas Day in an effort to raise funds and awareness of mental health issues.
The dad from Owton Manor, will be supporting Lab Gym owner Ste Cotson’s Lost Souls charity which raises funds and profile of mental health.
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Hide AdBrian hopes to raise £5,000 to set up a drop in hub for people in crisis with their mental health at the gym.
A Just Giving Page for the effort has already raised more than £400.
Brian, 50, said: “I just thought it was a really inspirational thing that the organisation is trying to do.
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Hide Ad“Mental health is a huge issue and this charity is trying to take away the stigma around it.
“I have known some men in Hartlepool who have taken their own lives and I think that some men affected by mental health issues may feel embarrassed about struggling and may not want to go to the doctors.”
But this isn’t the first time Brian has taken on a major challenge for charity.
He walked an incredible 120 miles from Maryport in Cumbria to Hartlepool, in just three days in 2011, to raise funds for the Jo and Mya Memorial Fund.
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Hide AdBrian, who is an outreach worker at Belle Vue Sports Community & Youth Centre, continued: “The reason why I’m doing the walk on Christmas Day because it can be the loneliest time of year for people going through mental health issues or a mental health crisis.
“It’s a time where you are expected to be happy but for people with mental health issues or other issues it’s not like that.
“If readers know someone going through issues on Christmas Day, give them a phone call or speak to them.”