Family scaling Three Peaks after two suicides

A mother and daughter whose family was devastated by two suicides within weeks are taking on the Three Peaks Challenge in aid of a mental health charity.

The pledge comes after Alyson Noakes' husband Stephen, 64, and brother Luke Robbins, 45, took their own lives at the end of 2025.

Noakes, from Worcestershire, will be joined daughter Siobhan and seven other family members later to scale Ben Nevis followed by the ascents of Scafell Pike and Snowdon, all within 24 hours.

"The family had never known anybody take their own lives before and to experience suicide twice in less than two weeks at the end of last year has just devastated us all," she said.

Noakes, from Claines, near Worcester, was married to Stephen for 35 years, and described her husband as "an amazing man".

"He was kind, generous, artistic - he did a lot of art, he sold pieces of art," she said.

"I was extremely proud of him and the things that he did."

But she noticed a change in his mental health after he suffered a stroke while on holiday in Spain, last year.

According to the Stroke Association, depression is common after a stroke, with about one in three stroke survivors having some form within the first year.

"I didn't realise quite how depressed he was getting, and he was also very close to my brother, and my brother had depression most of last year," she said.

Noakes said she suspected her brother's death had an impact on her husband, causing him to "spiral into a deep depression".

But she paid tribute to her sibling, saying Robbins had been the "kindest brother".

"He was so artistic as well," she recalled. "At Christmas he would always make an absolute fuss about decorating the presents.

"He would go the extra mile for people, and he would for his son. He had a son called Josh, who's a lovely, lovely lad."

Siobhan, who has a young son, said him growing up and not remembering who his grandfather was, was "the biggest sadness of [my] life".

The Bromsgrove mum said: "He would have been the best role model to him.

"My dad was truly one of a kind. He was the most thoughtful person you could ever meet and he had time for everyone."

"He was so interested in people, he was very deep. I just had the deepest conversations with him about music, mental health, and culture, politics," she explained.

"He was very passionate about helping people and he was training to be a counsellor himself.

"He really wanted to help other people, but just couldn't help himself."

All the money raised by the family will go towards the charity SOBS - also known as the Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide charity.

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