Lowestoft, England
john@livingmentalhealth.com

Attending an Event at Norwich City Football Club

There is no "I" in struggle

Attending an Event at Norwich City Football Club

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all well and good. I hope you enjoyed the long January and now we’re in the second month of the year. Today I’m going to talk to you about an event I attended in January.

It was the Norwich City Football Club CFC event. They posted on social media in January and I wanted to attend this event because I saw it last year after it had happened. So this year I made a point of making sure I could go.

I had a lady called Diane message me on Twitter because I wanted to take part or help in any way possible. Now I couldn’t do a talk because that was already in place. But Diane messaged me back and said sorry about that but she would put me on a seat front row as a VIP. Well, I was nervous about attending for the first time but I had never been a VIP before.


I also was asked to help Sue from Lift Loud for Danny to have a stand with her. Sue is not well at the moment so I took some bits to the event for her.

Well, I got the train over to Norwich, walked around to the football ground and walked into the club. I was nervous, butterflies going mad in my belly, hands sweating. But this was soon reduced to nothing as I got a very big welcome from a lady who introduced herself as Beth and made me feel so at ease. And when people kept coming to the stall, I kept introducing myself as Sue’s not Sue and for me this was an ice breaker with people and made them laugh. I don’t think Sue realizes how many people she has touched with her story and also the work she puts in to help people with mental health and autism.

I finally found where to get a drink from and I went to get a drink and my card declined. Panic stations hit me. I was like 20p short and I couldn’t think what to do. So I rang my sis to transfer the money over to me. As I got off the phone, the bloke goes come here mate and instead of him charging me for a full pint of coke he charged me for half. I was a bit overwhelmed and I think he could see this. I couldn’t stop saying thank you. He was a legend in my eyes so thank you fella.

I had a blast at the Norwich City football club event last night. Diane had hooked me up with front row seats for the talks, and I was so grateful. I could see everything clearly and enjoy the show.

The host was Darren Eadie, a Norwich legend who shared some of his struggles with mental health. He then brought on two Norwich City players, Onel and George, who also opened up about their life stories and how they cope with mental health issues in football. They were very honest and brave, and Eadie did a great job of asking them questions and making them and us laugh. It was a good balance of serious and light-hearted conversation, and I learned a lot from them.

One of the funniest moments was when Onel admitted that he loves his dog more than his partner and child. That cracked me up!


I want to thank Bev, Diane, Norwich City football club and the barmen for an amazing night. I can’t wait for the next one.

Thanks for reading and have a great February. I wish you all good mental health.

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