Across June and July, the Baton of Hope is touring the UK with an important message: Where there is HOPE, there is a real opportunity to save lives. This is the promise that Baton of Hope UK founders, Mike McCarthy and Steve Phillip, made to their lost sons (Ross and Jordan), and to the thousands of sons and daughters who are lost each year. Carried by notable personalities, leaders, and people with their own inspiring stories of hope, the Baton of Hope will be marked by a packed events schedule giving local communities, organisations, and neighbouring towns a chance to get involved. This is the largest suicide prevention and awareness the UK has ever seen.

Baton of Hope are part of a movement aspiring to a zero-suicide society, refusing to tolerate the current figure of 6,000 suicide deaths per year in the UK when these are often preventable. Baton of Hope have a vision where:

suicide and suicide prevention are openly and widely discussed
they inspire hope through action
people are suitably supported
everyone plays their part in realising this vision.

On Thursday 29th June, the Baton of Hope UK Tour arrived in Manchester. This was an opportunity to remember Lloyd, who we sadly lost in October. His partner Lizzie and his teammate James Hennigan were two of the individuals carrying the Baton of Hope in Lloyd’s memory.

Lloyd played at our club for 10 years, we know how much the club meant to him and he meant the world to us.

One of the key campaign messages is around giving people the skills and confidence to have a potentially life saving conversation about someone they are worried about. The Zero Suicide Alliance can support on this campaign message, as they provide free training that tackles myths, helps us get better at asking questions, listening, and directing people to the right help. Their free online course lasts just 20 minutes, and gives you the skills and confidence to have that potentially life saving conversation.

A Just Giving page has been setup by the Baton of Hope to help fund the tour which is the first of its kind in the UK, the continued work on workplace charters, and the important work they are doing in schools, universities and the workplace as well as in communities.