‘Callum was such a character... he will be dearly missed by us all’

Callum Short, from Manby, passed away near his home on Sunday, March 21, following a battle with mental ill-health.

The popular lad, who worked at North Lincs Engineering, leaves behind his father Dilan, his mother Becky, his younger siblings Maisie and Thomas, and his group of close friends.

One of these friends, Josh Amos, said: “Callum will be missed as part as our lads group.

“We’ve all been affected by his loss, as he was such a character in our group. He will be missed dearly by us all.”

Josh set up a fundraising page to raise money towards Callum’s funeral, which has already raised more than £7,000 at the time of going to press.

Josh added: “Personally I didn’t see any sign that Callum was thinking of taking his life before he did, but he must have bottled these feelings up which was a true shame.”

Josh said the amount raised was ‘unbelievable’. He added: “It is an unbelievable amount raised by a couple of groups I’m involved in and the community around Callum which has truly moved myself, his father, and more.”

Callum’s parents told the Leader that some of the money will go towards the funeral, and it is hoped that the rest will go towards creating a memorial garden and bench in the nearby woodland where Callum’s body was found on March 22, the day after he took his own life.

However, this is subject to the landowner’s permission.

Callum’s mum Becky said: “The money will be going towards the funeral, and we’re going to try and do a memorial garden so that there is somewhere for his friends to go, and we hope to put a bench there and some flowers there. It’s currently a bit of a wasteland, so we just want to scrape it all back and make it a bit nicer.”

In addition to creating the memorial garden, Becky and Dilan are hoping to cover the costs of repairing Callum’s ‘adored’ car – which was always breaking down – and take it to car shows, where they will talk about Callum and promote mental health awareness.

Becky and Dilan said that, although Callum had recently been feeling down and had been prescribed anti-depressants a few weeks before he died, they would have had no reason to believe that he would take his own life and the couple has urged others to talk to their loved ones if they are struggling with mental ill health.

Becky said: “He had come home a couple of weeks prior and said that he had sought help from the doctors, and had been prescribed Sertraline.

“We have always thought he was very bubbly, but he recently been a bit up and down and he didn’t always want to talk about it.

“He would sometimes just shove it under the carpet.

“When he was 12, he lost his best friend [in a car accident] and I think it all started from there.

“He never really got over that. But we would have never thought that he would end up doing what he did.”

Becky said that she believes she was the last person to see Callum, around 6.30pm on the evening he died, and there was nothing to suggest that he was intending to take his own life.

“It was my birthday a couple of weeks before he died, and he was just laughing and joking and he seemed happy”,” she said.

“He’s a young lad and he seemed really happy every time we saw him. It was lovely to see him all the time.”

If you would like to make a donation towards the fundraiser towards Callum’s funeral and memorial garden, visit https://gofund.me/2e47befe

• When life is difficult, Samaritans are here – day or night, 365 days a year. You can call them for free on 116 123, or visit www.samaritans.org