70 pairs of shoes were displayed on Truro’s Lemon Quay on World Mental Health Day (10 October). They represented how many lives are lost to suicide in Cornwall each year.
The 70 pairs of shoes of all shapes and sizes represent the diversity of the people who die by suicide. Each pair was given an identity – husband, wife, mother, father, son, daughter, stranger and more.
Helen Lee-Savage (Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust Suicide Prevention Lead) and Darren Chaplin (Mental Health Lead at Cornwall Rural Community Charity (CRCC)) wanted to create something visual to spark a conversation. They also wanted something to represent the deaths in Cornwall every year. The display certainly attracted a lot of interest on the day.
Now that the event is over, there is a great opportunity for the display to be hosted somewhere in the county. This is so that the conversation around suicide prevention and mental health support can continue.
We’re still looking for a home for the 70 shoes display. It’s currently being exhibited in New County Hall but we need to move them this week.
If you can host the display, or have somewhere dry they could be stored while we find the next host we would be very grateful.
If we don’t find a home for the display, they will be recycled.
Please email shevaughan.tolputt@cornwall.gov.uk if you are able to help.
