150 Tonne Challenge

My name is Josh Kirkup, and i am raising money for the mental health charity Mind, the Maggie’s Centre in Gosforth and Andy’s Man Club.

All three charities are very close to my heart.

cancer effects millions of people in the uk each year, and unfortunately my family has been hit with a very strong, invasive kind of cancer that theres not a lot of anything that can be done about it. throughout treatment at the freeman hospital cancer specialist ward (who do great work by the way) Maggie's Centres have offered me and my family so much help to deal with things. just being able to go along and talk to someone, have a cuppa and get it all of your chest and out your head really helps, and half of the money i raise will go to them to help them continue their sterling work, and help others in the same position.

mental health effects everyone, and im not afraid to say ive struggled with mine a lot. however the way i dealt with it, what i did to ignore the issues and mask the problems ultimately led to me losing my partner and her daughter, who were two of the people i loved most in this world. and i didnt do anything about it because i thought theres no help available, men should be men and deal with it blah blah blah. evidentially this was totally the wrong way to go about things. whats ironic, is if i had just said to my ex partner that i was struggling, she would have helped me and we wouldnt be in the position we are in now. but shoulda, woulda, coulda. this is why ive chosen Mind to raise money for as well. so they can help someone who is struggling i was and still am, in the hope they dont make the same mistakes i did and lose the same things.

Andy’s man club is a peer to peer support group and anti-suicide charity. Men are statistically more likely to kill themselves, and in the words of Paddy Pimblett, “no one is doing anything about it”. It’s time for that to change. Men need to know it’s okay to talk about their feelings, and not let things get so bad that they feel the only way out is suicide.

im not good at many things, but what i am good at is lifting up big metal circles on a bar and putting them back down again, so to raise money for both these amazing causes will at least help to repay some of the support they have given me. i cant undo my mistakes, i cant unhurt the people ive hurt and i cant bring back the people ive pushed away, but i can work hard, lift a lot of weight in a day, and together we can all raise a lot of money!!

thank you for reading, and thank you for your support. even if you cant donate, a like and a share goes a long way

thank you

Josh