Kitchen Garden Forum

This week I had a phone call from friend off our allotment to tell us that the chap from the allotment just across the path from us had committed suicide.

I feel really really upset as he has been on our allotment for 35 years and we have known him for 12 years.

I gave him excess seedlings and he gave me handfuls of flowers and rhubarb.

He suffered from really bad depression over the years which got worse more recently. He admitted himself into hospitat in November and got sent home on Christmas eve, with no support. He is thought to have committed suicide either Thursday or Friday before New Year, by hanging himself.

I am really upset as he had very little family, I keep seeing him on his walks around our lanes, I can hear his voice when he chatted to me about our plans for our plot. He was always keen, cutting his grass, but last year he did not do very well on his plot. I dont know what sent him so down but I dont think that he was very well looked after by the NHS....

His plot was a lovely mix of veggies and flowers and grass. I hope someone who like working on the allotment gets his plot and recently the plots which are available round us have been taken on by people who like collecting wood and rubbish.

That really is very sad Catherine. Depression can be a dreadful illness and it isn't always treated with the seriousness it deserves.
I do hope that you can continue to remember happier times and don't upset yourself too much.
I feel for you,
Jude.

How sad Catherine, it must have come as a bit of a shock, hugs. Unfortunately mental health seems to have become the poor relation in the NHS. May your friend rest in peace. Will you get the opportunity to say your goodbyes at the funeral perhaps?

That is such sad news. To have been discharged from hospital on Christmas Eve with no support must have been the last straw for him. It is so easy to feel guilty in these cases but often we simply have no idea that people are in difficulties because it is difficult for them to ask for help. All we can do in our everyday lives is to be kind to everybody who passes through our lives, especially those who live alone, in the hope it will make that little difference.