After the success of International Women’s Day 2016 I had to propose an International Men's Day show that could raise awareness of men's physical and mental health and celebrate the men in our local community.
This year we celebrated with a whole morning of conversations with men, about men and for men on Triple H 100.1fm.
There was so much talk radio that actually, we probably needed more music to digest the conversations but heavens – when the conversation is so good it was hard to stop!
All the interviews are available as downloads on Stay in the Loop with Lucy and I recommend you listen to them and enjoy the wisdom each of the men interviewed bring.
What I discovered was the tenderness that men carry, often masked by the burdens they feel they carry through life in order to live up to expectations, ideals and beliefs. It was a similar theme to what I hear when women speak so am left wondering if we have to address where these ideals and beliefs are taken on in order to not burden ourselves with them for a tender young age so that it becomes our normal, squashing and hiding the natural tenderness, caring, sensitivity and strength that is so natural for boys and men.
Next year I am planning to do an outside broadcast run by some of the male presenters at 2HHH to run concurrently with a Billy Kart event run by StreetWork a local youth mentoring organisation. We will also have information stalls and food to make it a great day out for all – a true celebration of men.
Listen to the full episode on International Men's Day 2016.