Family take on charity ride for male mental health

A man is taking on a charity motorbike ride with his family to raise awareness of men's mental health after he struggled for years following a motorbike accident alongside his dad.

Christopher Smith, 33, and his father Rob Smith, 60, suffered injuries in a crash in 2011 that left Christopher feeling suicidal.

He is now fighting to get men to open up and talk more and he is raising money for the mental health charity Mind by taking on a 14,000-mile ride with his family and the Bearded Villains UK brotherhood.

Christopher, who is from Shepton Mallet, said: "People don't talk because they still want to be masculine about things and there's a lot of stress put on men."

After the accident, it took a long time for Christopher to recover mentally.

"I had my mum and my dad was still in hospital with broken ribs," he said.

He went on to struggle with anxiety and depression from the trauma of the accident for two years until he got support from Mind.

During the pandemic in 2020, however, he noticed his male friends were struggling silently.

"I lost friends who were 19 and 22 years old.

"You would see them in the street and they'd say, 'Hi, nice to see you' and then a week later they were gone," he said.

Bearded Villains is a worldwide group of men who have beards and raise money for charitable causes.

Christopher and his family will ride their motorcycles to collect all 12 flags from the Bearded Villains Chapters in the UK - some as far away as Scotland.

"I'm really excited," he said.

His brother-in-law Matty Leukins said as a biker he "thought it was a cracking idea" for a "very important cause".

He said: "Men don't talk about anything.

"They just keep it close, struggle on until it all gets too much.

"A charity like Mind is there to help them if things get worse."

Ian O'Reilly, head of community and events fundraising at Mind, said the organisation was "really grateful" for the support.

"One in four of us will experience a mental health problem in any given year and it's so important that no-one has to face this alone," O'Reilly said.

The challenge will take place over three days from 3 May.

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