After losing my brother Andy to suicide in 2018, I decided to raise some money for MIND in Norwich by running the St Albans Half Marathon in 2019. At the time I needed an outlet and was badly struggling with grief. The support from friends, colleagues and family at the time was incredible (95 donations!) and I couldn't believe how much money was raised. 

MIND was a service Andy visited along with many others over a turbulent 15 years leading up to August 2018. 

For a sense - the Will Young documentary is perfect - especially the sense of crisis they describe as a family 

September  2018 - Andy’s Funeral  Words below:

(Sing by Blur was the final music)

Andy or Aj was a son, a brother, a grandson, a nephew, cousin and recently an uncle. He was loved.  

Despite a short life, Andy was a remarkably interesting person who had a uniquely humorous perception of people and life and he should be remembered for the meaningful role he played in the lives of those closest to him. He was always kind, generous and had a wonderful sense of humour.

It is not possible to talk about Andrew without mentioning his some of his favourite things – he had a passion for music, reading, travel and Norwich City. Growing up in Leeds, Andy’s weekends and evenings were spent mostly following all things football and especially Norwich City, a love which was passed to him by his father and grandad. A love he then passed on to his younger brother taking him to his first away game at Leeds in 94. 

He would spend Saturday’s watching football focus and then would always follow the scores on teletext before then spending hours in the back garden with his brother Chris recreating a Robert Fleck or Mark Robins goal he has seen on a highlights video. Throughout his teens he travelled all over the north watching Norwich play with his dad and brother or as Andrew put it “I spent a decade freezing like a member of the Waffen-SS holding the eastern front at places like Preston and Barnsley”. His love of Norwich City continued throughout his life.

Despite his brother breaking his little finger playing indoor football with a balloon in the kitchen (a finger which remained dislocated!) he loved his brother.  His last ever text message to anyone was to Chris to tell him how much. Whether it was playing subetuteo, playing football or going to football together, the memories of the banter with his brother when they were together throughout his life will be a warm memory to his mum and dad, as will his summer holidays in Norfolk and his love of the sea and the hours he spent in the surf as a child and the sense of peace he got from that.

In 2009, Andrew decided to travel the world his interest sparked by an old postcard collection he found as a child, the cards had been sent from around the world by his grandfather. The emails he sent the family are still treasured… he was a talented writer, who wrote many journals, funny emails about daily life and an online blog. He had a great love for books…he was incredibly well read and would often return to his favourites or even order a copy online to send to his brother to read and share in its joy. Andy left everything to Chris including over 400 books.

 Andy from a very early age loved his music and later on in life he would attend Glastonbury and many other music festivals and gigs with his friends. Most recently he learned to play the drums attending weekly classes in Norwich and he was excited that he was learning a new skill – he would video his lessons so he could get his practices rights and would often talk about what he had been taught that day

 He enrolled in a PGCE course at Staffordshire University and became a qualified teacher. Andrew was a talented teacher getting high grades in his lesson observations. He said in his diary that one of his happiest times was the year he taught in London - he was able live a normal life for a time and often met Chris at weekends. He always said how much the kids liked him and another very fond memory for him was when the pupils at the Kings Lynn school banged the desk and chanted his name when the discovered he was leaving. He has a number of teaching jobs, including in Saudi Arabia, but he was unable to stay long in any post because of his mental health issues, he resigned in each post a number of times before heads finally accepted it. It is difficult to build a teaching career when you carry a resignation letter around in your pocket.

It is possible he was about to begin to be a volunteer with the Norfolk alcohol team beginning in either September or October. His key worker was very keen describing Andrew as such a nice person with lots of potential.

 As Andrew once wrote - “We should not dismiss the mentally ill, they have created and dominated our world. Without them we could not listen, would not learn or could not enhance our understanding of the world around us. They have livened and enriched our existence. Never dismiss a struggling man, for he or she could be shining a candle in the light of our world”