Three fathers, including one from Sale, who set out to achieve something positive following the deaths of their daughters have completed a third national charity walk.

The 3 Dads Walking trekked 500 miles from Scotland to Norwich, pushing their fundraising total to more than £1.4m for the North-West based charity PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide.

Mike Palmer from Sale, Andy Airey from Cumbria and Tim Owen from Norfolk have become national heroes for raising awareness and helping to save young lives. 

Speaking at the end of their 25-day trek, Mr Palmer, who lost his 17-year-old daughter Beth to suicide, said: “We walk in memory of our girls and sadly, if we don’t do something positive, we will lose more and more children.

“We have been joined by parents every day along the way and hearing their stories is absolutely heart-breaking. We don’t want other families to have to experience the terrible grief that we do, that’s why we do what we do.”

The fathers walked through the eastern counties of England visiting some of the newly opened, or soon to open, PAPYRUS hubs in Stirling, Newcastle, Leeds and Norwich. 

The 3 Dads Walking completed their first challenge in 2021 by walking 300-miles.

A year later they doubled that distance by trekking 600-miles, walking between the parliaments of all four nations from Northern Ireland through Scotland, Wales and England.    

Andy Airey, whose 29-year-old daughter Sophie took her own life, said: “It is very important to have achieved this in terms of fundraising but more importantly raising awareness of the charity and the life-saving work they do.

“This was about refocussing our efforts to help PAPYRUS achieve its goals and extend the charity across new parts of the country.”

Tim Owen who lost his 19-year-old daughter Emily to suicide, thanked all those who had supported them.

“People have travelled nationally to be with us. Many of them have been bereaved by suicide, all of them saying PAPYRUS is such a fantastic charity and we need to continue preventing more suicides.”

Ged Flynn, Chief Executive of PAPYRUS, which has its head offices in Warrington, paid tribute to the dads for raising awareness and spreading hope:

“They’ve walked 500-miles, life with every step. Every story shared is a life saved.

“The 3 Dads Walking have already captured the nation’s hearts, after all what could be more important than the wellbeing of our children and saving young lives?”

During their two previous challenges the 3 Dads Walking were overwhelmed by public kindness and generosity.

Hollywood actors Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman each donated £10,000, as did football legend Lou Macari, who lost his son to suicide. 

For practical, confidential suicide prevention help and advice please contact PAPYRUS HOPELINE247 on 0800 068 4141, text 88247 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org