Dance the night away at charity fundraiser
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A LOCAL musician has organised a dance event to raise funds for charity.
Duncan McBean, AKA Acutek, is hosting 'Flick x Eyeangle Records: Choose Life' at the Eagle Bar on behalf of the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) with support from fellow DJs Kamus and Liam Doc. The money raised will be donated to raise awareness, educate and help fight against mental health illness.
Duncan said: "Everyone has been affected by mental health in their lives, whether personally or through friends and family and I always want people to know I'm on the other end of the phone if they need to talk. It's important to support the amazing work SAMH do. Just £5 raised can facilitate a visit for someone to speak to a mental health practitioner."
SAMH operates over 60 services in communities across Scotland, providing mental health social care support, homelessness, addictions and employment services, among others.
The services, together with national programmes See Me, respectme, suicide prevention, sport and physical activity; inform SAMH's policy and campaign work to influence positive social change.
In 2017, around three-quarters of all suicides in Great Britain were male. A total of 680 people killed themselves in Scotland in 2017, a rate of 12.5 per 100,000.
"There are over 200 types of mental illness," added Duncan. "They can be just as detrimental as any other illness, but sadly it's not always visible."
Eyeangle Records has been taking the Choose Life series around the country, throwing parties to raise money for the charity. The events aim to encourage those with suicidal thoughts to "choose life", and to normalise open conversations about mental illness.
Choose Life Forres is on Saturday, April 6 from 9pm-1.30am upstairs at the Eagle Bar.
"It's going to be a safe space for people to enjoy themselves, no matter how they are feeling," said Duncan. "Attendees can expect a bit of everything from house, disco through to acid and techno.
"We aim to dance and put smiles on people's faces whilst raising money for such an amazing charity."
For more information about SAMH, call 0141 530 1000, available 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday or visit https://www.samh.org.uk/.
