THE widow of a Tavistock man who tragically took his own life while suffering from severe depression has launched a charity to boost children’s self esteem in his memory.

Harriet Davis will be taking her work staging theatre productions in local primary schools to the next level with her charity Show Up and its fundraising arm the Edwin Davis Memorial Fund, a Community Interest Company (CIC).

The website www.showupnow.co.uk went live at 6pm on Saturday night.

Drama teacher Harriet lost her husband Ed, who taught at Okehampton College, after he took his own life, aged 51, in April 2018. An inquest heard that he had become seriously ill after stopping his medication.

Ed’s two daughters and two stepsons with Harriet were also devastated by the tragedy and the whole family has been involved in setting up the charity.

It will build on the work that Harriet has already been doing in primary schools in West Devon, staging whole class productions of everything from Shakespeare to Hans Christian Andersen plays. She is seeking sponsors among local businesses.

Harriet said: ‘I’m a drama teacher and I have seen first-hand the effect that drama has had on so many people. It can be quite profound. Life is not easy and what I want to do is help young people build self-confidence.

‘I started thinking about what I was going to do in memory of Ed and actually, in terms of boosting mental health, I realised I’m already doing it.’

Harriet, who taught at Okehampton College alongside Ed, recently retired from teaching there to concentrate on the charity in his memory, building on work she has been doing alongside teaching in primary schools in West Devon.

‘Ed worked in special needs for the majority of his teaching career and he was immensely compassionate, very patient and would do as much as he possibly could to help young people,’ she said.

‘He was a wonderful person who is sorely missed and we don’t want to forget him.’

She said Ed had battled mental health problems throughout his life.

‘I wanted to set the charity up because I think Ed’s problems started at a very young age and I think it is so important to instil self-esteem and self-reliance in children. Ed never felt he was enough and that was so sad, because he was enough for me and our children, our daughters and his stepsons. The church at his funeral was full of people who felt he was enough but he could never feel that himself. He could never own it.’

‘Young people need to feel that they are all right in themselves to be able to deal with the blows of life and not lose sight of themselves in all this. They need to feel good about themselves and for me drama is a way to do that. It is not easy to go out on stage but if they can go through with it they can then be proud of themselves.

‘They can say “if I can survive that, I can survive other things”. I’m determined to get people to see the value of it, to get local busineses to support it, that’s my job now.’