Andy’s Man Club: messages on bin lorries to tell Fife men it’s good to talk

It’s the latest initiative from Andysmanclub working with Fife Council and comes as it launches a UK-wide video to promote its safe spaces where men are welcome to attend and talk.

The bin lorries will see the front of the cabs emblazoned with the club’s name and the message “it’s okay to talk.”

Staff already have mental health tags on their workwear for staff to see, while Andysmanclub teams have delivered presentations to a number of services, including managers, chargehands and Fife Council’s mental health first aid team. It has also hosted drop in sessions with the waste operations staff.

Kenny Armour who is the area lead for Andysmanclub within Fife adds "This is a huge announcement launching these five lorries, not only for the awareness this will bring around Fife but also around the UK as we launch an awareness video to try to promote the work that has been done within Fife.

“I have seen the impact the lorries which had the vinyl signs on the side had so to see these new lorries hit the streets is going to be huge, and by doing, so hopefully reach more men out there struggling with their mental health or social isolation.” Andysmanclub now operates in 14 different locations throughout the Kingdom with over 200 men using the clubs. They aim to give men a safe space to come in and talk and get things off their chest. To find your nearest group please visit www.andysmanclub.co.uk

Added Kenny: “By having advertisement like this hopefully we can reach more men and open more clubs within Fife"

The initiative was welcomed by Sandy Anderson, waste operations service manager who said: "We have 440 frontline employees and we service over 13 million bins in Fife and sweep around 165000 streets.

“We have had an ongoing campaign the last two or three years around mental health and within my service where since January 2021 we sadly suffered several suicides within the team. That has really affected everyone including myself - we really need to take action on this and we couldn't sit back and not take action after going through such a traumatic event.”