Band of friends raise thousands for charity and commemorative bench in memory of friend who took his own life

Kristjan Smith died on September 17, 2022 after a struggle with his mental health.

The 18-year-old was working as a farmer on his family's land, and in his earlier years attended Newport Primary School and Burton Borough School.

Kristjan was laid to rest at Newport Cemetery, but his grave has been without a headstone for two years - just a wooden cross that was provided by the cemetery.

One of Kristjan's best friends, Alfie Moreton-Caller, said Kristjan "deserved better".

After Kristjan's father arranged for a proper headstone to be placed on the grave, Alfie and a group of Kristjan's friends got together to give him a 'final farewell' in the form of a commemorative bench at the cemetery adorned with a message written by Kristjan's mother, as well as a fundraising music night and community clean-ups.

On November 30, Kristjan's friends spent the day cleaning up Victoria Park and the nearby skate park where Kristjan is said to have spent a lot of time growing up. Those involved in the clean-up were Alfie, Josh Munday, Callum Risdon, Oscar Allcock, Joe James, Joel Talbot, Brandon Talbot and Niall Holloway.

On the evening, they were joined by their friends Todd Kynaston, Sean O'Brien and Liam Burton to hold a free music night at The Swan pub in Newport where a line-up of bands and musicians performed for the public and raised donations, exceeding their £3,000 target.

The friends are still working hard to raise as much as possible for the men's mental health charity, the Movember Foundation.

They were all 18 when their best friend took his own life. Now 21, Alfie said his death was a "huge shock" to them all.

"It is quite a rare thing when a group of friends lose one of their group like that," Alfie said. "We all had to adjust to it, and decided to all come together to give him a final send-off on the music night. 

"To exceed the £3,000 threshold was fantastic. We want to thank everyone who donated, and we will be leaving the GoFundMe page open to donate as much money as possible to the Movember charity."

Alfie said one of Kristjan's most loved things was his car. In remembrance of Kristjan, the friends all got matching tattoos of his number plate. 

Anyone who would like to donate to the GoFundMe page can do so at gofundme.com.

*Whatever you are going through, you don’t have to face it alone. Call Samaritans for free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org for more information.