Tribute to John

It is with immense sadness that we are letting you know that our dear colleague and friend John O’Malley passed away unexpectedly over the weekend.

John joined MFT in March 2018 as our Mole Valley Co-Ordinator, having grown up in the area himself. He then took on responsibility for our programme of online activities in September 2021. Before joining MFT, John had an extensive career in football coaching having worked with clubs such as Chelsea, Crystal Palace and the Surrey Football Association. After losing a few male friends to suicide, John decided that he wanted to support men’s mental health and joined MFT where he supported hundreds of clients over the years. His favourite quote was: “You’ll Never Walk Alone!”

He was a firm believer of the benefits of linking mental health and physical health. When he was Mole Valley Co-Ordinator, he took on the coaching of our Leatherhead Football team, the East Surrey Eagles, and sourced extra funding from Surrey FA to further develop it. He also set up Walking Football in Dorking which has now become a community group of its own. Pre-Covid, he also ran a peer support group for men in Leatherhead and “Men on Wheels”, a cycling group for men around Surrey. He also successfully helped to develop our online programme of activities which is always very well attended.

John was much loved by all our staff and clients, and will be greatly missed! We will always remember him as a very down-to-earth, kind and cheeky colleague, always checking in on everyone, always with a twinkle in his eye and always wearing short sleeves in all weather!

Our thoughts and prayers go to his family and his wife, Tamsyn, at this very difficult time.

Online activities suspended

As a result of this unexpected news, we have suspended our online groups and courses for the rest of this week. We will update our calendar in due course and will let you know when we are able to start running some of our online activities again.

Our face-to-face activities will still be running as usual. If you would like the space to talk about John and share your memories of him, you are welcome to attend our face-to-face coffee mornings in Leatherhead, Epsom or Elmbridge where our Area Co-Ordinators will be able to support you.

Our Coffee Mornings run:

• On Mondays, 10am-11.30am at the Leatherhead Institute
• On Mondays, 10.30am-12pm at St Peter’s West Molesey Community Hub
• On Fridays, 11am-2pm at Brickfield Centre, Epsom (as part of our Peer Support Group

You can also join our Men’s Hour (Men’s Peer Support Group) on Wednesdays, 1pm-2.30pm at Brickfield Centre, Epsom.

Virtual Sympathy Card
If you would like to write a personal message about John, please click on our Virtual Sympathy Card and post your message by 31 October 2022. All messages will stay private. We will then print the card with all your messages and send to his family.

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