A WINSFORD bride whose dad committed suicide just two weeks after she got married has joined forces with a national charity to raise awareness of mental health issues.

Nick Morris, 51, took his own life on July 29, 2014. Nick’s daughter, Hope Garner, 25, and James Garner, 27, got married on July 11.

Hope, a nursery nurse, was coming down from the ‘absolute elation’ of her wedding day when she found out the gut-wrenching news.

“It was my second day back at work and I found out my husband’s father had suffered a heart attack,” Hope said.

“Then my sister came round to tell me about my dad that night. At first I didn’t believe it. I ended up calling his mobile.

“It is devastating. Then the guilt comes in and then eventually that turns into anger.”

Nick, a former Woodford Lodge High School pupil, lived in Ashbury following several years in Jamaica.

He returned to Winsford, where he lived up until the late 90’s, to visit Hope and her sister the weekend before he died.

She said: “You ask yourself, ‘how did I not know’? But he had a very good mask on. You play it back in your head to see if there’s anything you could have done.

“But I just didn’t know.”

One in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year, according to the mental health charity, Mind.

Hope is planning to take part in a sponsored sky dive later this year to raise money for The Kaleidoscope Plus Group (TKPG) and and SOS - Silence of Suicide, who have recently formed a partnership.

Aside from raising money, Hope says she simply wants to get people talking about ‘the elephant in the room’.

“I want to make it less taboo for people to talk about mental health issues if they are suffering from them,” Hope said. “I want to address the elephant in the room.

“If I can stop one person taking their own life, well that’s my job done.”

Hope’s is aiming to get some famous faces to publicly support the fundraiser, including the English rapper Professor Green, who last year starred in the BBC documentary, Suicide and Me.

The documentary saw the musician try to uncover the truth behind the suicide of his father.

“It’s so close to home,” she said. “He talked about the emotion of that. I totally got that. Once you experience it, it’s not just a documentary.

“It is great he can go out there and talk about it.”

A spokesman for TKPG confirmed Hope's skydive will be raising money to facilitate and manage a series of drop in zones for vulnerable people with mental health issues and suicidal thoughts. 

The spokesman said: "Monica Shafaq, chief executive of TKPG, together with Yvette Greenway and Michael Mansfield QC – founders of SOS (Silence of Suicide) are thrilled to announce that the first drop in zone, named 'Uhuru', in memory of Hope's father, will be located at TKPG's head office in Sandwell, near Birmingham and plans are underway for a very special launch. 

"We are confident that Hope's wonderful fund raising initiative will substantially aid in our planned delivery of this critical and beneficial service."

To donate to Hope’s skydive, visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/hopeskydive