Grieving pal sets up Newcastle suicide support group

Sep 18 2011 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

DEVASTATED by the death of a close friend, Gary Kelly was desperate to find a support group where he could share his grief.

He failed to find one so there was only one thing to do – raise the cash to launch his own.

And now the 34-year-old cycle trainer has done just that, by holding the inaugural meeting of the Newcastle Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide.

“It’s all about creating a space for people to share their grief – I’ve been through it myself and it’s not nice, but we’ve now got somewhere to reach out to others,” said Gary, of Whickham, Gateshead.

“I miss him everyday and think about him all the time and will continue to do so for the rest of my life – I love him like a brother as do all of the people whose lives he has touched.”

It was three years ago that Gary was stunned when his close pal Gav Blakemore took his own life, leaving his friends and family battling a mixture of emotions as they tried to figure out the reasons why.

Gary learned the nearest support group for the national charity Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide was in Hull, so tasked himself with raising enough cash to set up a Tyneside-based support group, to give friends and family affected by suicide a place to talk through their emotions.

As a keen cyclist, a charity cycle ride seemed the obvious way for him to raise the money needed.

So last year he spent two months cycling an astonishing 3,000 miles across 10 European countries on the mission of his life.