THE couple who have set up the Men Against Loneliness And Depression group at Lochgelly Centre are right to take on this difficult task with their committee.

In recent years the numbers of suicides which have left families in the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area stricken has risen and the facts are that it is men that are more likely to think about taking their own lives than women.

MALAD has a committee of seven people who have set the group up and two of them, who feel there is a massive need for such an organisation in the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area, are husband and wife team Ashley and Blair Greig.

The statistics for 2017 showed that in Scotland 670+ people committed suicide that year with only 30 of them women.

More locally, over the past year in this area, there have been a number of men, many of them very young, who have taken their own lives and that is something they rightly think that needs to be addressed.

Men often feel it very difficult to express their emotions and it can lead to the build of pressure inside which can lead to suicides.

They want to open the door to men to help them to speak about things that are really concerning them. They have people who can listen and offer appropriate advice which hopefully can ease the distress that the person may be in.

The Monday night meetings will offer the opportunity for any person who feels the need to speak about their problems, to go along and have the chance to talk to a sympathetic ear.

The group has people who have experienced situations like those which may be worrying anyone who goes along to the sessions, and that is so important.

To make the group run fluently they will be applying to the appropriate funding streams but support from the community would be welcomed and if anyone can help in any way Ashley and Blair would welcome them to make contact on their MALAD Facebook page or email the group on maladfoundation@gmail.com