Nominations for the MEN Pride of Manchester Awards 2023 with TSB are now open. The bash is a chance to celebrate the unsung heroes who have gone above and beyond to make a difference for others.
Anyone, of any age, can be nominated. It may be for a single act of bravery, a long-lasting battle against the odds, or for inspirational campaigning. There are eight awards to choose from, including TSB Community Hero, the Emergency Services Award and Young Fundraiser of the Year.
Last year’s winners included Professor Erinma Bell MBE, who received the Spirit of Manchester award for her work to counter growing gun and gang violence in south Manchester, and nine-year-old PixieBelle Sykes, who was named the Child of Courage for her efforts to help fund a new MRI scanner for children needing brain surgery.
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Jane Gregory, who set up the Salford Survivors group after two local women were murdered by their abusive ex-partners, was the recipient of the TBS Community Hero award, which champions those who have gone to remarkable lengths to help others lead their best lives.
Liam Preece, 15, who was diagnosed with bone cancer, received the Teenager of Courage award after sharing his upbeat diaries and videos on YouTube. He sadly passed away just two weeks after being recognised with the award.
This year’s winners will be invited to attend a lavish red carpet awards dinner, in front of an audience packed with famous faces from Manchester and beyond. But to get there, they will first need to be nominated by those who have seen their great efforts first hand.
To find out what it means to be recognised at the Pride of Manchester Awards, we caught up with one of last year’s Special Recognition recipients, Mike Palmer, who is part of the 3 Dads Walking group.
'The recognition is so important and it gives us such a huge profile'
Mike's daughter Beth was just 17 when she took her own life at the beginning of the lockdown in 2020.
The former firefighter, from Sale, said Beth was a vocal artist who had ‘the world at her feet’ at the time of her death. She had just signed a record deal and was moving up with her career.
“I couldn’t have loved Bethy anymore,” Mike, 57, tells the M.E.N. “She was my youngest daughter and had the world at her feet. She was starting to gig all over the place and people absolutely loved her. We really don’t know what happened, but we can only guess that she was going through poor mental health.”
He says coming to terms with what happened made him realise that more could be done. “She was literally here one moment and gone the next,” he added. “We believe that if we’d been more aware and read the signs, and she knew how to reach out to people about how she was feeling, she would be here now.”
Mike said it was fate that brought him to Andy Airey and Tim Owen, who had both also lost their daughters to suicide. Andy, from the Lake District, lost his daughter Sophie in 2018 at the age of 28, and Tim, from Norfolk, lost 19-year-old daughter Emily in the same month as Beth.
Tim’s eldest daughter reached out to Mike after seeing an article online about Beth and the two dads began meeting up and talking about their own grief. Through the PAPYRUS charity, which is dedicated to the prevention of young suicide, they were then introduced to Andy.
“We’re all very much on the same page,” Mike says of Tim and Andy. “We’re very different people, but we’ve become very firm friends. "We might all look like something out of Monty Python but, ultimately, we’re dads who have gone through the same thing.”
The trio - as part of the 3 Dads Walking group - decided to take part in a 300-mile walk between their three houses to raise money for PAYRUS and to spread awareness over young suicide. The organisation estimates that more than 200 schoolchildren are lost to suicide every year.
Earlier this year, the 3 Dads Walking went on a 600-mile walk between four UK parliaments to spread awareness of their campaign and to encourage the government to take suicide prevention seriously. To date, the group has raised more than £1 million for PAPYRUS and received the backing from Hollywood stars, such as Daniel Craig.
Their petition, encouraging suicide prevention to be added to the school curriculum, with over 150,000 signatures. It is now expected to be discussed in parliament in the near future.
“We need to start teaching young people about what their greatest danger is and it’s themselves,” Mike states. “We need to be proactive and educate our young people to make them resistant. We absolutely need to start there.
“It’s opening those conversations not just at home, but at school. If you don’t talk about it in a safe, controlled environment like the classroom, they will find the information elsewhere and it might not be helpful.”
Last year, Mike was nominated in the Special Recognition category at the Pride of Manchester awards. He not only went on to win the award, but the 3 Dads Walking were also recognised with the Special Recognition trophy at the Pride of Britain awards this year.
“Winning these awards are always mixed emotions for me,” Mike says. “I’m up there because I’ve lost Beth, but the recognition is so important and it gives us such a huge profile.
“My Beth was born to be on stage. The irony is that she has been on stage more, through her music and films being used behind me as I’m taking these awards, than she could ever dream of. It’s very surreal and very mixed emotions.
“To be recognised and to be able to talk about our story is massive because we believe it is saving lives. There’s absolutely no doubt that being recognised by the Pride of Manchester awards has helped save lives.”
Mike says that his work with the 3 Dads Walking group has not only helped others, but it's also helped himself, Andy and Tim.
"The grief will never go,” he explains. “"Our families have had to live with this every day. We were plunged into a very deep state of complex grief.
“Tim and Andy are one of the reasons why I’m still here now because it did plunge me into a dark spiral. I’ve gone from being a big, strong firefighter who wasn’t phased by anything to someone who felt completely smashed apart and couldn’t get out of bed.
“Through the work we do, we firmly believe that people don’t have to go through what we have been through and the grief we all feel for our little girls. I now know that there aren’t many people who haven’t been touched by suicide, attempted suicide or mental health issues. It is a major problem that we are just at the beginning of.
“There is such a stigma attached to suicide and people do not want to address it. People are living in blissful ignorance, just as I was before Beth. If things don’t change, people are going to lose what’s so precious to them.”
You can find more about 3 Dads Walking on their website. You can donate to their fundraiser here or sign their petition here.
For support or advice, please visit PAPYRUS, Samaritans or MIND. You can also text SHOUT to 85258 for free, 24/7 mental health support.
Nominations for the MEN Pride of Manchester Awards 2023 with TSB are now open. You can nominate online at prideofbritain.com/Manchester . The closing date for nominations is Sunday 19 February.
