Walk to raise awareness about mental health

Thomas Judge is English and has spent some time in Benidorm, like many of his compatriots, where he says he feels “happy”. His hobby is walking, but unlike others, he does it for a charitable purpose and has travelled thousands of kilometres.

In mid-September 2022, he set out on foot from Middlesbrough, in the north of England, to raise public awareness about mental health and suicide prevention. Ten weeks later and after travelling 2,378 km, he arrived in Benidorm on November 17, the day the city celebrated one of the most deeply rooted festivals in the British community, the Fancy Dress Party, and there he was received by the mayor, Toni Pérez, the vice-consul of the United Kingdom, Liz Bell, a BBC team and numerous compatriots.

This morning, two years after the journey, Judge returned to Benidorm to present the mayor, at the Town Hall, with the framed Spanish flag that accompanied him during that journey, in recognition of the support received and as a sign of the success achieved with the experience. and to announce that Benidorm will soon have a 'respite facility' from the British organization First Contact UK Mental Health, to which it belongs and with which it organizes its challenges, the first outside the United Kingdom and in a campsite in the city.

In the meeting, Thomas Judge explained to Mayor Toni Pérez the purpose of completing the Camino de Santiago and a future challenge that would lead him to carry the British and Spanish flags to the top of Kilimanjaro (Tanzania). The reception was also attended by the British vice-consul Sara Munsterhjelm, to whom she also presented the flag of England which, along with that of our country, was displayed in his solidarity challenge.

For his part, Toni Pérez has conveyed to him that mental health "is something fundamental and even more so in our days", essential for "the development of people and society." The mayor has stressed that when this problem exists, “people feel isolated, frustrated and overwhelmed” and that is why he has welcomed the “results” obtained by First Contact UK Mental Health.

Toni Pérez gave Thomas Judge photographs taken the day he arrived in the city and thanked him for the flag as a symbol of the unity of both countries and “of the success of that walking.” The banner already occupies a place on the shelves of the Mayor's office at City Hall.

Likewise, he has encouraged him in his challenge to complete the Camino de Santiago and has reminded him that Benidorm is the starting point of the Camino del Sureste. “We are – he told him – 1,148 km from Compostela, just a little less than your walk of more than 10 weeks.”