Music festival held in Lancaster raises more than £2,000 to help prevent suicides

Andrew Reilly, Maddy Howard and John Rawcliffe from the Adults with Autism support group, Liam Mulgrew, landlord of the George and Dragon with members of staff present a cheque for £2330, to Positive Futures

A festival held in Lancaster to promote the importance of mental health ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day has raised thousands.

The first ever Life Fest ran at the George and Dragon pub over the August bank holiday weekend.

It aimed to raise funds to provide benches at all the suicide hotspots around the district, the idea being that each of these benches would have resource information on them providing advice and providing phone numbers of organisations that could help people who are feeling suicidal.

Life Fest was held on behalf of The District Mental Health Forum and a local community group, Adults with Autism. 

The Forum is made up of around 20 community groups from around the district including Adults with Autism, The Samaritans, various men’s groups, NHS mental health groups and the University mental health team among many others.

“The A.W.A would like to thank Liam and all the staff at The George and Dragon for their hard work, not only over the events throughout the week but also a special mention to Liam for all his help with setting the event up and organising," said Andrew Reilly from Adults with Autism.

"Finally a massive thank you to the local community who attended the events and donated money, we could not have achieved this without you.”

The team behind Life Fest presented a cheque for £2330 to Positive Futures after the six-day event, which included live music, a quiz and raffle.

Read more: INTERVIEW: First 'Lifefest' music festival in Lancaster to raise funds for suicide prevention - Beyond Radio

Positive Futures is a mental health and mental illness charity for the people of Lancaster and its surrounding areas.

World Suicide Prevention Day is an awareness day always observed on September 10 every year, in order to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003.

*If you need someone to talk to, call Samaritans on 116 123, at any time. Calls are free.

More information HERE.

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