‘Celtic Park was his happy place.’ The words of Jill Dixon, mother of Glenn Dixon, who tragically took his own life in November 2018, aged just 32.

In his honour, his family and friends helped to raise awareness of mental health issues, as well as raise funds for Celtic FC Foundation and their local mental health support service, Tyneside and Northumberland Mind.

They arranged an eight-day walk in August 2019, embarking on a 150-mile trek from the Tyneside Irish Centre to Celtic Park – a fitting tribute to Glenn’s life. Monies raised were shared equally between the two nominated charities.

Glenn grew up in Morpeth, Northumberland, and attended Liverpool John Moores University, where he gained a degree in history, before returning to the North East of England. Glenn struggled to find work, eventually settling into a role as a carer with Age UK.

He was often found laughing and joking but unbeknown to his family and friends, he was masking mental health problems.

In August 2018, Glenn displayed signs of suicidal ideation and, for his own safety, he was admitted to hospital. Following a mental health assessment, Glenn was scheduled to attend sessions to help deal with his mental health issues. Sadly, however, Glenn took his own life before he’d had a chance to speak to someone about his problems.

Glenn was fanatical about Celtic and tried to attend as many games as possible. When he wasn’t watching the Bhoys at Celtic Park, he would take in games at the Tyneside Irish Centre, surrounded by friends.

Glenn’s mother, Jill Dixon, said: “Glenn was always happy, always laughing – the life and soul of the party. He managed to convince everybody that things were fine, but his mental health had been deteriorating.

“If we can try to prevent even one other person from taking their life and get them to seek help, and realise ‘actually I’m not okay’, then this will be worth it.”

The group began their walk on August 24, 2019 and arrived at Celtic Park on August 31, 2019.

If you would like to organise your own fundraiser for Celtic FC Foundation, we will aim to ensure that you have all of the help you need, to raise as much as possible. Simply contact us via email at [email protected] to let us know what you’re doing and we will send you a sponsorship pack, which will include; a sponsor form and details on how to set up an online fundraising page.