Winner
3 Dads Walking
Summary of work
Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen are the ”3 Dads Walking” who have made it their mission to raise money for PAPYRUS and elevate suicide awareness - especially in the under-35s, across the UK since 2021, one step at a time. They are relentless ambassadors and champions for a cause which is so personal, and binds them together through their shared lived experience.
Key Achievements
- In 2021, 3 Dad’s Walking, walked over 300 miles across three days in memory of their daughters, Sophie, Beth and Emily, who all took their own lives.
- In February 2023, Dr Neil Hudson (Andy’s MP) raised the campaign in Prime Minister’s Questions and led to the 3 Dads Walking meeting the PM in April and in March they met Gillian Keeghan to discuss what they had learned in their conversations and indicated their intentions to raise the political debate
- In April 2023, they kicked off their second walk - over 600 miles between the four parliaments of the UK in 2022, gathering signatures for their petition along the way asking the Government to make suicide prevention a compulsory part of the school curriculum. This received over 160,000 signatures and the petition was debated in Parliament. In response to the debate the Government announced that the review of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum would be called forward from September 2023 to begin immediately
- At the start of April, Liverpool schools were the first to trial lessons in suicide prevention and this phenomenal success earned them the ”Petition Campaign of the Year Award”, which celebrates people who have used petitions to campaign for change
- At the end of June 2023, they carried the Baton of Hope, one of the biggest suicide awareness and prevention initiatives this country has ever seen, launched their 300 miles book and began to plan for their 25-day, Walk of Hope, which finishes on 10th May. They have also been regular guests on BBC Breakfast and other BBC radio/TV shows as part of their campaign
- The 3 Dads Walking, who have already raised more than a million pounds for the national charity PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide, helping to save young lives
Donate and find out more: 3 Dads Walking
