Three Dads Walking win Pride of Britain Special Recognition award

Three fathers on a mission to get suicide prevention on school curriculum after losing their daughter have won the Pride of Britain Special Recognition award.

Mike Palmer, Andy Airey, and Tim Owen, embarked on a fundraising walk with two other dads that inspired the nation and raised more than £1 million for charity.

Mike, from Greater Manchester, Andy from Cumbria and Tim from Norfolk, are part of 3 Dads Walking - who set out to achieve something positive following the deaths of their daughters.

After being given the award at the Pride of Britain ceremony Tim said: "To be able to speak as we have done so candidly to everyone and explain the problem and just realise everyone gets it.

"Everyone in the room can get it why can't parliament, it's so obvious that we need to help our kids handle their emotions better."

Mike added: "You lose your daughter to suicide, losing a child for any reason is obviously so hard, but suicide has it's own dimension.

"It is crippling, it's not just crippling that person hands their pain on, believe me it doesn't go, it turns these families into suicidal thoughts as well.

"I have to live every day and see the pain that losing Bethy has left within my family and I know how hard it is to get out of bed which is why I respect these two [Andy and Tim] so much because they do get out of bed and they do get on it and they carry the cause forward."

After experiencing the most heart-breaking loss imaginable Mike, Andy, and Tim created a close bond when they met through the suicide prevention charity, Papyrus.

Andy’s 29-year-old daughter Sophie died just before Christmas 2018.

Mike's daughter Beth was just 17 when she took her own life in March 2020, a few days after Tim's 18-year-old daughter Emily, who like Beth, felt overwhelmed by pandemic restrictions, passed away.

For their first challenge, the dads came up with the idea of a sponsored walk between their homes in Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Norfolk to raise funds for Papyrus as well as awareness of young suicide.

Their initial target was £3,000, but as word of their challenge spread, donations have surpassed £1 million.

As well as raising money and awareness, the 3 Dads Walking want to see children and young people taught life-skills in the classroom.

Their online petition to have suicide prevention included on the school curriculum has now collected more than 127,000 signatures, which should prompt a debate in the House of Commons.

But, following an official response from the government, the dads say they are disappointed the government has not committed to making suicide prevention part of the national curriculum.

Despite the huge backing, including from many MPs, the government instead said it will only commit to a review of the curriculum.

In response the 3 Dads said, "quite frankly it's not good enough".

They walked 300-miles between their homes and in 2022 they walked twice that distance, around 600-miles between the parliaments of all four nations, from Northern Ireland through Scotland, England and Wales.

Their walk to all four UK parliaments for World Mental Health Day ended on 10 October 2022 and took their fundraising total to more than £1 million.

Andy said: “During our walk we met very many suicide-bereaved parents, all of them said the same thing; it was only after they lost their child that they discovered that suicide was the biggest killer of under 35’s in the UK; they all asked, ‘If suicide is the biggest threat to our children’s lives, why is no one talking about it?’”

Mike added: “3 Dads Walking is not a club I want to belong to, but it gives us, as fathers, an opportunity to fight back and maybe make a difference.

"We are all too aware that there are more young people out there falling into despair and see no way out other than to end their own precious lives.

"There is help out there. There is hope and that's what 3 Dads Walking is about, it's about hope.”

Co-hosted by Carol Vorderman and Ashley Banjo, the Pride of Britain Awards will feature extraordinary stories of bravery, selflessness and phenomenal fundraising feats.

• The Pride of Britain Awards will be broadcast on ITV on 27 October at 8pm.