THE family and friends of a much-loved dad whose death ‘touched the whole of Tadcaster’ are trying to raise £10,000 to help raise awareness of men’s mental health issues.

Father of two, Bruce Wetherhill, 31, took his own life in December last year leaving a hole at the heart of his family.

His brother, Wayne, 34, said Bruce, who was 6’7” tall was a ‘gentle giant’ who lived for most of his life in Tadcaster where he went to Riverside primary and then Tadcaster Grammar School. He worked for Heineken, was married to Josie and had a little girl, Matilda, three, and a boy, Ezra, two.

Wayne said: “My ‘big’ little brother, Pauline and John’s son, Josie’s husband, Matilda and Ezra’s daddy and a dear friend of almost everyone in Tadcaster. Bruce was an extremely popular character and he leaves a big hole for us to negotiate our way around.

“Like far too many others, Bruce suffered with mental health problems that tortured him. He suffered in silence, afraid to reach out and none of us any the wiser. This alone is truly heart-breaking to think about.

“Suicide is the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 and isn’t going to slow down. We want to help change this and make a big dent in this truly scary statistic that took my brother.”

On May 27, Wayne and a group of Bruce’s family and friends will be walking Coast to Coast from St Bees, Cumbria and finishing in Robin Hood’s Bay ten days later on June 5 to raise money for mental health charity York Mind.

Wayne said: “Bruce was such a loving father, son, husband, brother and uncle. No one who crossed paths with him had a bad word to say, a gentle giant, and I as his big brother couldn’t have wished for a better brother and friend. One of proudest days of my life was being his best man, after he did me the same honour a few years before. I think I was his best man by default, having had too many mates to choose from, I was the safest option for fear of upsetting anyone.

“Since Bruce’s death the community in Tadcaster have been so good to the family. We’ve had thousands of messages, home cooking and baking delivered to our doorsteps for months on end. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone for that. ”

To date the group have raised £7,470 and his mum, Pauline, has separately raised over £1,300 so far selling knitted hearts that will be split between men’s mental health organisation, Andy’s Man Club, and Mind. Although they have set a fundraising target of £10,000, they would like to raise as much money as possible.

Wayne said: “I’d like to thank Seven Video Productions have footed half of the accommodation costs to the 10 day trip for the party of us as their donation to the fund raising. It may not have been possible to do the challenge and raise so much money if it wasn’t for them.”

Bruce was also an avid Leeds United fan. A season ticket holder for many years and a plaque has been put down in Centenary Square in his memory.

Follow the walk progress on Facebook here or Instagram here.

Click here to donate at JustGiving.

*If life is difficult you can call Samaritans any hour, any day, on the free phone number 116 123, email them at jo@samaritans.org, or visit www.samaritans.org.