meets Tom Robinson
WELL, HERE’S TO you Mr Robinson! That’s Tom Robinson, former event rider, who no longer cares about winning rosettes or chasing silverware. Twenty years battling bipolar disorder and an extreme upswing into mania have prompted his priorities to turn turtle.
“Getting out of bed and through a day is enough for me,” he says. “What’s important is helping other people.”
While there is James’ Place (in London and Liverpool), Sean’s Place (Liverpool) and Jane’s Place (Burnley), one day Tom intends that there will be a Tom’s Place in southern England, set up in memory of his friend, event rider Tom Searle, who took his own life in 2017, and for Tom himself, a survivor.
These Places are venues where those feeling overwhelming despair and having life-ending thoughts can go and find quietness, a keen ear and support to try to prevent them from going through with that tragic final act.
