Lockerbie-based mental health and suicide prevention campaigner, Frank Ritchie, was part of the Baton of Hope campaign which reached its climax on Thursday.
Designed to be the biggest suicide awareness and prevention initiative the UK has ever seen, it has been “opening up necessary conversations and prompting appropriate actions”.
The Baton of Hope has toured 10 major towns and cities for two weeks.
Frank, aged 71, said it has raised the profile of the issue of suicide “like never before” with a message of “together we can reduce the stigma, and get better at asking questions, listening and directing people to the right help. Together we can save lives.”
Frank’s world collapsed when his 31-year-old son, Alan, took his own life at Lockerbie Railway Station in 2015.
The tragedy has spurred him on to campaign ever since for more support for charities and those with mental health problems – lobbying councillors, MPs, MSPs and the Scottish Parliament.
And he has ensured that suicide awareness information posters are displayed in Annan and Dumfries Tesco stores with information about Suicide Bereavement Support Cumbria and South Scotland, and at local train stations via ScotRail.
Frank is a keen ukulele “hummer and strummer” and, as Papa Tuke Tuk, he has used his skills to raise thousands of pounds for
a number of mental health charities through concerts.
These include Suicide Bereavement Support Cumbria and surrounding areas, including Dumfriesshire and other suicide prevention charities such as The Jordan Legacy, Baton of Hope, The Cameron Grant Memorial Trust and Samaritans in Dumfries.
During the Covid-pandemic, and since, he has raised concerns about the need for more mental health services.
He encourages anyone in emotional torment to
reach out and seek help from a variety of agencies and urges people across the region to keep an eye out for others who may be struggling.
The Baton of Hope was the brainchild of two other dads, Mike McCarthy and Steve Phillip, who lost their sons Ross and Jordan, to suicide.
Like Frank, they have become persuasive advocates for change in UK suicide prevention policy and the Baton of Hope marathon has raised awareness – starting in Glasgow and ending yesterday in London, after two weeks.
Frank said he was honoured to have been asked to carry The Baton of Hope through Edinburgh and into the Scottish Parliament’s Holyrood building, together with Dumfriesshire MSP Oliver Mundell, who is also an advocate for more suicide prevention.
He was also delighted to meet Mike McCarthy and said: “The aim is to impact the lives of thousands of people across the country with the simple message that ‘Where there is hope, there is a real opportunity to save lives’.
“This is a growing movement aspiring to a zero-suicide society, and we will simply not tolerate more than 6,000 suicide deaths per year in the UK (as currently) when most suicides are preventable.”
The campaign says that suicide is the biggest killer of men and women under 35 in the UK – more than
from cancer or in traffic accidents.
Frank urges anyone feeling low and suffering from mental health or suicidal thoughts to ring the Samaritans on freephone 116123 at any time, or Suicide Bereavement Support Cumbria and South Scotland helpline 07572 975 721 or 07896 703 757, or email: hello@sbs.org.uk.
