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On The Front (One) Foot Forward

Peter Langston | September 30, 2023

Club mates have been very charitable and generous with their appreciation of the Waratahs website and the Facebook page and the mountain range of statistics I gathered in 15 years of research. I’m grateful.

The truth is, at a time, twenty years ago, when I was planning and attempting suicide, chasing down the club’s history came as fabulous way to focus each day on something else. It was a strategy I learned in programs designed by the Black Dog Institute.

Tomorrow I start walking 100kms. I’m 67 and raising awareness and money for programs and strategies I used, even just this week, to overcome mental unwellness?. I’m alive but tomorrow another 9 Australians won’t be, dead by suicide. Men in rural areas are more prone. For people aged 15-44, it’s their leading cause of death.

What doesn’t kill you still doesn’t leave you with much more than long periods of depression and anxiety and disconnection. I had an advantage. All of us Waratahrians put each others Humpties back together again, over and over, just like mates always do.

At 43, I should have died but BDI and support from mates has kept me here … to walk … to ask you to help. Even $1 will do some good. Even if you can’t donate, please share this.

Donate to My 100km On The Front Foot

#waratahscricketclubofarmidale #suicideprevention #blackdoginstitute #onefootforward #mentalhealth

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Peter Langston

Current Rating: 5 / 5

www.peterlangstonpoet.com

Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia

I was a teacher for twenty years and a writer forever. I played the game with great passion and commitment from about eight. I had several satisfying innings, bowled more overs than I deserved and held the very occasional screamer ... until I lost my playing mojo in my early 30's. Unfortunately, I've never found my way back beyond the boundary apart from several games where my mates were fun but I was rubbish, so I watch and occasionally write about the game instead. In my other worlds, I have published five volumes of poetry, had a play come to the stage and written about all sorts of topics, in all sorts of way, in all sorts of media. I have been married to Sue since 1979. We have lasted this long because although she has bad taste in men, she can't admit she is wrong. We have three adult children, five grandchildren and more stories than an afternoon can last.

Favourite players: Doug Walters, John Hildred, Steve Waugh, Ian Chappell and Andrew Davis

Favourite grounds: SCG, Lambert Park, The LCG (Langston Cricket Ground)

All-time cricket hero: Doug Walters

Favourite bat: Symonds Tusker, which mocks me from the corner of my study.

Most memorable moment in cricket:
I am old enough that I have forgotten my most memorable moments in cricket but they almost certainly involved mates from the Waratahs Cricket Club of Armidale.

What’s the best cricket advice you’ve ever received:
Most advice is useless. It only works for the bloke giving it.

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