A team of Staffordshire Police Federation members are preparing to trek up Snowdon to raise money for a local men’s mental health charity.
Led by husband and wife team Robert and Helen Kelsall, the walkers will tackle the 1,085-metre peak on 17 October when they hope to boost the funds of Men Unite which is based at Hanley Town Football Club.
Helen said Men Unite was a cause very close to their hearts and she hopes the Snowdon challenge will also help raise awareness of the important work it does around men’s mental health.
The charity was set up in the town in 2019 in an attempt to address the rising problem of suicide among men.
Its founders recognised that men are often unable to talk about their problems or drop their guard to let others know about their struggles, fears and secrets.
So Men Unite offers support and encouragement to men who are struggling to cope with life because of issues such as addiction to drugs, alcohol or gambling, men who have suffered a bereavement or separation or may be concerned about debt and financial problems.
Helen and Robert will be joined by colleagues from CID Shift 2 which is based at One Smithfield in Hanley and any other officers from the Force that would like to join them.
She said: “We haven’t got an exact number of people taking part but anyone who wants to join us is welcome to do so.
“We are raising money but we know times are hard and don’t want to put pressure on people so this is also about raising awareness.
“We decided to climb Snowdon after a discussion about what we could do to support the charity.
“There were a few ideas thrown into the hat but I think people wanted to climb Snowdon, Robert had mentioned doing it before, it will be great team-building exercise if we all do it together, it’s an achievement and hopefully a nice thing to do.”
