Mum's pledge to 'do something positive' in memory of son who took his own life aged 20

Martin Bowers, from Handsacre in Rugeley, died in September 2020, just as he was about to start his third year at the University of Bath studying Chemical Engineering.

His mum, Anne Bowers, said: "It's been two years since Martin took his own life aged just 20 years old and, in the process, changed the lives of so many others.

"He is never coming back and we can't change the past, so we look to the future and will try to do something positive and lasting in his memory."

Anne has raised more than £2,500 to plant trees in Martin's memory in the National Forest, where Martin and his family walked when he was a child.

She said: "I can't buy Martin Christmas or birthday presents, so I've been buying trees. For his 21st birthday, his first since he died, I bought 21 trees."

Friends and family soon began to contribute and 167 trees have been bought, which rises to over 200 when taking into account the trees Anne bought on her own.

She added: "We have chosen to buy trees in the National Forest. This is a local scheme that has been running for 25 years and has just celebrated planting nine million trees.

"The original idea was to regenerate parts of the Midlands that had been neglected after decades of coal mining and heavy industry.

"We have chosen to buy trees in this young forest as it is close to where we live and our family used to walk here with our dog, Fuzz.

"This makes me feel a little better. It's something we can do."

The trees are £15 each and are a mix of native species such as oak, lime, hazel, silver birch, rowan and wild cherry.

"If I keep doing it for all of my life, it'll be a decent patch of woodland," Anne said.

"It is nice to imagine a little piece of this forest as being 'his' forest! We hope that it will provide both a physical and a meaningful legacy.

"Martin himself loved nature, so we think he would have approved!

"We hope that Martin's name and spirit will live on in these trees. He is part of nature now and we remember him and hope that he is at peace."

Martin never spoke to his family or friends about the state of his mental health, meaning his death came as a devastating shock.

"It was completely out of the blue. Nobody knew what was going on in his life. He was obviously in pain for a long time," his mum said.

"My life just feels completely empty. There's a big hole in our lives that can never really be healed. It was a devastatingly short life for him.

"It will stay with me until the day I die that he did this."

Martin left behind his mum, Anne, and dad, Geoff. He also had a younger sister, Stephanie, who was 17 when Martin died, and is now 19.

"He was funny, kind, caring, talented, quirky," Anne said. "His main love was music. He started off playing the recorder when he was five.

"He played the clarinet, cello, mandolin, and was self-taught on the piano. But his main love was the guitar, he had 10.

"He also had a good voice, and we used to sing together as a family in the car - The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel."

He was also an adventurer, who loved skiing and had gone sky diving twice to raise money for the trips.

"Suicide is one of the major killers of young men," Anne said. "I think it's getting better but still something a lot don't talk about.

"Martin was a very private person. In the note he left, we found out that he'd been bullied, and was given a lot of grief for having red hair.

"If Martin had told us how he was feeling, he might still be here. If anybody else is feeling like this, just reach out.

"Just talk to somebody. Anybody. It could be a complete stranger. There are lots of places you can go. Find somebody you trust.

"There's nothing that can't be sorted out. There's nothing that means you need to do this."

To donate towards a tree in Martin's memory, go to Anne's page on GoFundMe.

* If you have been affected by this article, you can call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit Samaritans.org.