After an overwhelming number of nominations the person announced as switching on this year’s Christmas lights in Falmouth says he is “blown away” by the honour.
Dan Lilley, the manager of the Bosun’s Locker in Church Street, has been chosen to switch on the lights in a special ceremony on November 24.
Dan from Falmouth does vital work with the charity Man Down supporting men’s mental health in Cornwall.
To raise money for the charity he has already climbed six mountains and next year is heading out to the mountain next door to Everest, Mount Lobush, to make it seven.
After being told of the nomination he said: “Thank you to everyone who voted for me, I’m blown away! I wanted to climb these six mountains around the world for the men’s mental health charity ‘Man Down’ to show that if you put your mind to something, you can achieve your goals”.
He said during lockdown many of his male friends struggled with mental health. He said it was real eye opener and showed what a massive impact the challenges faced during the Covid restrictions and on men’s mental health.
“I wasn’t aware that Cornwall had the third highest suicide rate for males in the UK, a vey sobering statistic,” he said.
Looking for ways to increase awareness of the dangers from depression, anxiety and loneliness he began explore ways to help.
Despite never having climbed a mountain before, he decided to start a new adventure and learn to climb some of the world’s tallest and most difficult to navigate peaks with the aim of raising money for charity Man Down.
Man Down is a Cornwall based non-profit community Interest Company that provides informal peer support talking groups all over Cornwall for men with mental health concerns.
He was first Cornish man to climb Mouth Arafat in Turkey the Winter which is 5,000 metres and now, despite breaking his ribs on the way down, he is now going higher and further to raise more money for those in need by heading to Everest.
Once there he will taught by the “David Beckham” of mountain climbing Gesman Tamang. Gesman is a world record holder, climbing all 14, 8,000 peaks in just seven months.
Talking about the nomination to the Packet, Mr Lilley said: “I am absolutely blown away. When I first heard a few people had voted for me I didn’t believe it would actually amount to this, switching on the lights in the town where I live and work. It’s one of my proudest moments doing something like this for the town.”
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The light switch on will take place on The Moor on Thursday 24th November. It promises to be a fun-filled, festive, community event. Dan will be switching on the lights at approx. 7pm
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