Hartlepool man organises walk to help people struggling with mental health or loneliness

David Oram, 28, is organising a walk from Hartlepool Marina to Seaton and back Wednesday, August 25, in a bid to bring people together and help them realise they are not alone.

David, who runs a home renovations business in town, decided to do the walk shortly after speaking to a friend who was feeling depressed.

Within a few hours of the conversation, David had posted his idea about the walk on Facebook, inviting people to come along, with the post being shared over 100 times at the time of writing.

David has said many people have reached out to say they want to join and he hopes the walk could become a monthly event.

He said: "I was expecting five or six people to be like ‘Yeah, no worries, I’ll come’, but there’s hundreds of people messaging me now saying they want to go.

"Once a month, people could come and speak to other people who are going through different things or people who aren’t going through anything could support people.

"We’re just going to walk down, get people to speak to each other.

"I’m not going to force anything, it’s a bit more for people to come down and talk to others, enjoy the time together.

"People can speak about their mental health or they might not want to speak, they might just want to speak to somebody to take their mind off things.

"Hopefully I can make it a monthly thing and give people something to look forward to.”

David has added he also struggled in the past, but the loss of close friend Lewis Boyd-Hill, also from Hartlepool, “opened” his eyes.

Lewis tragically took his own life earlier this year, prompting his friends to climb the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales dressed as Lord of the Rings characters to help raise money for a foundation in his memory.

David was also meant to take part, but couldn’t because he had to self-isolate.

The walk will start from the monkey statue on the Marina at 7pm on Wednesday.

David added: "Everyone’s welcome, don’t be afraid to join. I want people to just come and meet people, talk to people and realise they’re not alone.”

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