In the short time since Caroline left us, we have been warmed by the outpouring of love and support from Caroline's friends and family and we in turn would like to help to give a little back. Indeed Milly, while obviously in the grips of her own sadness, has expressed a great desire to help others who may be going through similar pain. As a family we want to make sure that Caroline's memory lives on forever and the strength she showed in fighting her illness is replicated and channelled into helping others. Having spoken to another family who experienced the loss of a loved one at Beachy Head and having been connected to another who continue to support a loved one fighting their battle with bipolar it is a natural and easy decision for us to launch our fundraising efforts by supporting Bipolar UK and The Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team. Supporting them directly via Just Giving provided the most effective option.

Bipolar is one of the biggest mental health challenges with 1.3million people in the UK diagnosed with it. Devastatingly, bipolar significantly increases an individual's risk of suicide by 20 times and too many die by suicide. On 4th September 2020 Caroline's diagnosis proved terminal and the burden of living with bipolar for the last 20 years became too much. While her death leaves an enormous hole in the lives of so many, we take comfort in the fact that she has now found peace.

Despite bipolar being such a far reaching mental health illness, Bipolar UK received under £1m in fundraising last year. We hope that your donations will make a difference in supporting them to provide a comprehensive peer group support service and in acting as the voice of the bipolar community to build a society that enables people affected by bipolar to live well and fulfil their potential.

Shortly after Caroline's death, we visited Beachy Head and came across the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team. A kind and compassionate team of volunteers who seek to save lives at Beachy Head, using search and rescue and crisis intervention to reach out, offering hope to anyone who is suicidal or in distress. We witnessed an intervention and it is so clear in the statistics the value of their work. Last year alone they were able to intervene with 600 individuals in distress. We would like to thank them for their part in recovering Caroline, the support they have given us and ultimately, we would like to help fund their continued efforts in reducing the number of individuals and families experiencing loss. 

Thank you for your support.

With love Milly, George, Tim, Fiona and Pru x

We have moved our page from Virgin Money on to Just Giving which only allows us to support one charity at a time.  We are therefore currently supporting Bipolar UK but will continue to support the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team in the future too.