The comedy night Keep CALM We Are A Man Down will raise funds for the charity CALM which aims to prevent male suicide.
The event takes place tonight at the Comedy Store on Deansgate. Comedian Ted Robbins, who played Mary's boyfriend Brendan Finch in Corrie, will be among the comedians who will be taking to the stage from 8pm.
Last year a number of actors from Corrie ran the Manchester 10k on Sunday in aid of the charity - a free confidential helpline and webchat service – after Mike, a beloved member of the crew, who worked on the ITV soap for 10 years. He was just 32.
Coronation Street director Matt Hilton told the Manchester Evening News: “After this shock the crew begin to support a charity called CALM which helps to prevent male suicide, which is in fact the biggest killer of men under 45. So last year we put our heads together and 30 of us ran the Manchester 10k in aid of CALM and managed to raise a fair chunk of money and awareness. We have also had Alan Halsall, Andy Whyment and Sam Aston dedicate their charity golf day to CALM, which they are doing again this year. So far we have raised over £25,000 for the charity. This year we wanted to do something different.”
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1 comment:
Good work, Corrie crew!
@ C in Canada - What with widespread cuts to health and social services and increasing job losses, there has been a very marked rise in percentages of male suicide in the UK in recent years. Women too, but mostly men. By shining a light on the issue, the hope is to get a push for funding for more mental health services as well as awareness in families and communities who can watch for signs of depression that could lead to suicide attempts. An internet search for male suicide UK leads to a variety of recent articles on this devastating issue.
I lost a male family member to suicide over 20 years ago and it is still a societal problem in Canada as well. The word suicide is still stigmatized and health providers are realising the importance of helping men to be more open about their feelings, rather than follow the old ways of 'being a man' by not talking about feelings like sadness, despair and helplessness.
So, it's really about education and services in as many venues as possible. If we had an epidemic of a virus, we would see the need because its effects are visible. This is the same, we just need to look in a different way. Sorry for my long post. I know with clarity the need for attention on this.
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