Eldmer Gill at Tidy Tattoo parlour in Bude was inundated recently with people coming in to get suicide awareness tattoos, following the recent death of 23-year-old Ricky Gamage.

Eldmer offered two days, February 5 and 6 to draw suicide awareness ribbons onto people and then donate the money to Ricky’s newborn son, Louie.

The Tidy Tattoo owner was overwhelmed by the initial response he had from the public after he made the announcement.

Eldmer was hopeful of raising a good amount as well as increasing awareness, and subsequently wasn’t let down as he managed to complete 31 tattoos over the two days, raising £1,160.

Ricky’s sister, Nicole Whatley expressed how grateful she and her family are to both Eldmer and the wider public of Bude, who had come together to show their support.

She said: “The event went better than we ever could have imagined we never thought that every slot would have been filled within 24-hours of putting a post on Facebook.

“People were coming into Elds’ shop and giving money without even getting tattoo which just mirrors the amount of support that we have received from the Bude community and surrounding areas. It has been so comforting in such a traumatic and devastating time.

“Amazingly, Elds managed to do 31 tattoos over two days‚ raising an incredible £1,160 which we cannot thank Elds enough for.”

The money will be be put towards Ricky’s newborn son, Louis and his family hope that Tidy Tattoo’s event will benefit both him and the wider community, as it was an opportunity to raise awareness for suicide.

Nicole continued: “We hope that the money raised will also be a comfort for Louis for when he is older, because he will get an insight into how much Ricky is loved and cared for. We know that we are only at the beginning of a very long and difficult process, but we hope that raising awareness of suicide (especially in young men) and trying to enforce that it shouldn’t be a taboo subject will reach out far and wide, to try and stop anyone else from going through the pain and hurt that we are going through at the moment.”

According to the Samaritans’ Suicide Statistics report, in 2018 there were 6,507 suicides in the UK, which was an increase of 10.9 % from the previous year. In the UK men are three times as likely to die by suicide than women.

For confidential advice and support call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit their website www.samaritans.org