Overview

• Torbay hosted the relay’s only South West leg on September 30, with around 100 local baton bearers taking part across Torquay, Paignton and Brixham.
• Public‑health leaders highlighted the local toll, citing about 20 suicides a year and an estimated 2,700 people affected annually, while 500 residents signed the Torbay Pledge.
• Co‑founder Mike McCarthy, whose son died after entering a six‑month NHS waiting list, urged practical reforms and described suicide as a societal catastrophe.
• Civic figures including public health director Lincoln Sargeant and council chief executive Anne‑Marie Bond addressed participants during a day of events that featured a steam‑train leg, an RNLI lifeboat crossing and a gala fundraiser.
• The national tour continued today in Hereford, where volunteers carried the baton from a tractor run at the Livestock Market to a finish at Town Hall to encourage open conversations about suicide.