Posted at 8:27PM on September 13, 2011 under Adults & Community

At FASA’s Shankill office & Stormont, Families and friends gathered to set off for the City hall event at 5.15am. Over 80 people from the greater Shankill, North Down & Ards turned out for our annual ‘out of the darkness into the light’ walk, this included family members, friends, community workers and elected representatives.

At City hall the Lord Mayor Cllr Niall O’Donnaghaile gave the keynote speech to almost 1000 attendees and promised to do all that he and his fellow counselors could to keep this concerning public health issue at the top of the BCC agenda as a priority, he vowed to continue to build  the infastructure within communities to support people in crisis and those affected by suicide across the province. Aiden Logan from North Belfast and Debra Morrison from West Belfast sang for the audience as part of a service of hope reflection and celebration of life. Other speakers were from Family Voices Forum, Rainbow and East Belfast SOS Group. The lord mayor invited the audience to a breakfast at City Hall at the end of the event.

The SAFE Together Project at FASA Shankill returned to continue with planned activities which included lunch at 12am for families and friends over 40 people turned up, face painting ,balloon modeling and mini football was organised for the children and local shopkeepers were invited in for lunch,  family members gave out information to the general public on our services and support initiatives.