Robert and Max were friends who grew up in farming families and enjoyed a childhood and adolescence familiar to many - working at home in the holidays, going to Young Farmers, playing rugby and studying at agricultural universities - before settling into their respective careers, Robert working on the family farm alongside his dad and Max as a Seed Merchant for Anglia Grain.

Young and well-liked, they appeared to have everything going for them.

Yet they were both struggling with their mental health, something that’s common in rural and agricultural communities but not spoken about often enough, especially amongst men.

Tragically, Robert and Max lost their lives to suicide in 2014 and 2019 at just 29 and 28. This left their families to deal with the grief, pain and unanswered questions that only those bereaved by suicide can truly understand. But it’s not just immediate families that are affected, there’s a wider ripple effect; for every one person that dies by suicide, around 135 people are affected.*