KICKING and punching their way across the region to raise money for a suicide prevention charity, Tae Kwon-Do Association of Great Britain (TAGB) students from across the South West gathered in Bude to begin a travelling ‘sparathon’ on January 21.
According to the charity suicide is one of the leading causes of young deaths in the UK. Sadly one student from the Plymouth club took his own life in the summer of 2017.
This spurred members of Tae Kwon-Do clubs across the region to come together and raise funds for the charity PAPYRUS, who specialise in giving support to young people likely to commit suicide.
A lot of thought went into the route the travelling sparathon should take and members agreed it was poignant to conclude the event at The Woolwell Centre in Plymouth where the former black belt had trained.
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The sparathon covered two routes to enable as many students as possible to take part. One team started at the Budehaven Community Leisure Centre, where students ‘battled to the beat’, sparring in time to some well known songs, before travelling south to Okehampton and Tavistock and on to the final destination at The Woolwell Centre.
The second route began at Crancrook and travelled through Exeter, Torbay and Newton Abbott before heading to Plymouth to join up with the other group.
Through their efforts, the sparring students managed to raise a total of £1,957, with £1,000 of this being match funded by HSBC.
This money can now be used by PAPYRUS to train members of the community in how to recognise a person at risks and how to help them.
It can cover the cost of training someone in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills (ASIST), which is a two-day course that prepares care givers to provide suicide first aid. It will also help to keep telephone lines open and staffed to provide first contact support.
The organisers of the sparathon expressed their thanks to Budehaven Community Leisure Centre, Okehampton College and The Woolwell Centre for donating their premises free of charge.
For more information on PAPYRUS and the work they do visit their website www.papyrus-uk.org