THE FAMILY of a 36-year-old woman who took her own life came together with their community on Tuesday to raise awareness of suicide prevention.

Kelly Cunningham from Thatto Heath died in November, devastating her family.

In her memory and to mark World Suicide Prevention Day, her family organised a charity walk on Tuesday, September 10.

Her sister Nic Brownbill said: “We wanted to get people talking about suicide. Our Kelly was a massive character in Thatto Heath - she had a massive heart, did a lot of charity events and raised a lot of money herself, and I know a lot of people will be happy to remember her here.

“We decided as a family to do a charity event for our sister, Kelly Cunningham.

"When she died in November last year, the local community raised a lot of money and helped us towards the cost of the funeral, which was really kind, so we wanted to do something as well and get people involved in Thatto Heath.

"As everybody knows there have been a few deaths here in Thatto Heath as well, so it’s about raising awareness.”

St Helens Star:

The community came together in Kelly's memory

After the walk, everyone came together again for a community fundraiser with competitions and entertainment all aimed at raising money for St Helens Survivors of Suicide Bereavement SOBs and Mind St Helens.

Cllr Anthony Burns, St Helens Council's Cabinet Member for public health, leisure and libraries, added: “We’re here in memory of Kelly, with Kelly’s family, who have put on this event and have been instrumental in working with us to help tackle the stigma.

"So we need to work with more of these groups and more partners need to come together to help tackle it and get to our target of zero suicides in St Helens.

“I’ve said before that suicide rates in this town are just too high and we can’t tackle it on our own. The council can do a lot of things but it’s very important that we work with partners and this a key example."

The event came on the same day that St Helens Council launched its new mental health campaign OK TO ASK.

The campaign encourages people to not be afraid to have conversations around suicide.

To find out more about OK TO ASK visit oktoaskcampaign.co.uk.