Man hosts mental health walks in son's memory

Popular rugby player Kane Forder, 23, died last September

The father of a rugby player who took his own life a year ago has been hosting walks to help bring awareness to men's mental health.

Kane Forder, who played for Coventry side Pinley RFC, was found dead at home in September 2024, at the age of 23.

His father Dave Forder has been using this past year to get more men talking about their mental health during monthly walks across Warwickshire.

Mr Forder said he and a friend first went for a two-hour walk in Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, but had ended up getting "drenched" in the rain, adding: "The best thing that ever happened since Kane was me going on that walk."

Mr Forder has been hosting monthly mental health walks across the county

He told BBC CWR that going on the walk, with about 10 other people from the pub, had made a difference to his mental health at the time.

"Just for the odd second I was laughing in the worst time I was going through," he explained.

"It changes you, going out on a walk in the fresh air does make a difference and it does help clear your head."

Hundreds of people attended Kane Forder's funeral

Mr Forder, who has become an advocate for mental health on social media since losing his son, said it had been a "hard year".

He said he had the "whole of Coventry" helping him after his son's death, but the pain of his loss was not any less a year on.

"Everyday's a struggle for everybody, I'm not on my own, I'm not the only one that gets up in the morning and [doesn't] want to get out of bed because I've lost someone," Mr Forder said.

"There's millions of us out there.

"All over the world [on Facebook] I just see 'I lost my son' of every age and there's people crying out for help. You're never alone and that's the message I'm trying to get out."

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