On Friday the 21st of April, Newstead Wood's school parliament hosted a school fun run in an effort to raise money for Papyrus – a charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide.
The non-profit organisation contributes to suicide prevention by working with people all over the country through counselling as well as talks given in schools and colleges. To add to that, they run 'HOPELine' a 24-hour helpline to give help and advice to the youth who need it most. Mental health is becoming a very prominent issue that both the Bromley youth council (second on the manifesto) and our school are trying to support.
We thought a fun run would be the best way to raise both money and awareness for mental health and prevention of self-harm and suicide. As a member of school parliament, I was elated to find that on the day, our hypothesis was proved correct. To support and participate in the event, a crowd of people had gathered on the school field - some in extravagant fancy dress costumes.
There were people dressed as horses, fairies and nuns. There was a pair of teens who wore bright purple inflatable suits and a group who ran a 5-legged race wearing the different colours of their partial rainbow. Tanvi Singhal, the girl who was the red in the rainbow, said: “I really enjoyed the fun run and it was great to raise money for Papyrus which means a lot to our school community ”. Indeed it does, a couple of years ago we had sadly lost a student to suicide and so part of this was in her memory and the memories of thousands of others like her.
The event was incredibly fun yet also incredibly helpful to those who are most in need of it.
