Stubbington woman’s memorial football match in memory of ‘kind’ brother raises thousands for suicide prevention charity
A CHARITY football match in memory of a much-loved brother and son who died by suicide has raised thousands of pounds.
Football fans turned out on a sunny Saturday, May 21, at Snows Stadium in Totton to cheer on players at the Josh Hendy memorial match.
All money raised by the event is going to support R;pple, a charity run by Stubbington-based Alice Hendy.
R;pple is a browser plug-in that prompts an automatic pop-up when users search for information on self-harm or taking their own life.
Alice developed the tool after her ‘kind’ and ‘thoughtful’ younger brother Josh died at 21 in 2020.
Josh, a paint sprayer who also worked for the MoD as a security guard in Portsmouth dockyard, had been active online looking for material about suicide before his death.
Free to download, R;pple provides support and resources for people suffering poor mental health and feeling hopeless.
A pop-up comprises the message ‘you deserve to feel hope’, and signposts to a range of free support resources such as helplines, text services and webchats that are available 24/7 from mental health charities.
At the match, a ‘poignant’ minute of applause was held at 21 minutes in memory of Josh.
Two teams of family, friends, and AFC Totton players competed for the top title, with ‘Team R;pple’ winning 7-4.
Alice said: ‘The match and the whole day went better than we could ever have imagined.
‘We had in the region of 40 players take part in the game, with quite a few representatives from the AFC Totton team including their manager.
‘We had approximately 250 spectators on top of that.
‘The sun came out for us, we sold lots of merchandise and raffle tickets and raised over £3,000 on the day.
‘It was such a success that several people have suggested that we make it an annual event.’
Ian Hendy, Josh’s dad, added: ‘It was a fantastic turnout and we were humbled by everyone’s support.’
The match also had half-time entertainment, a sold-out raffle, and a R;pple merchandise stand.
Find out more about R;pple at ripplesuicideprevention.com.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact Portsmouth and East Hampshire Samaritans on 0330 094 5717.