“It’s about giving these guys the opportunity to get it out and not bottle it up. Suicide is the biggest killer of men aged under 54 in the UK, which is a ridiculous stat.”
Best mates Alex Morris and Gareth Mayers have helped to bring Andy’s Man Club, the nationwide peer-to-peer support group for men, to Cwmbran.
I met them on 29 October 2025, and they both shared some personal experiences. But both were clear in the aim of why this special club is needed. I checked with them that it would be okay to include their stories.
Gareth said: “It’s good that it’s happening, but it’s bad that it’s needed if you see what I mean.
“There’s a lot out there about us [Andy’s Man Club) For us, it’s that ability to be able to try and do something close to home.”
‘Close to home’
Hearing Gareth say ‘close to home’ brought me back to some personal experiences they shared just minutes earlier.
Alex’s daughter’s boyfriend lost his life to suicide earlier this year.
He told me: The group helps you as an individual as well, even if you don’t struggle with mental health. I was going through a grieving process, and it certainly helped me.
“You go there and you get support from it, but you also get a good feeling from helping people, which is really powerful.”
Gareth was 14 when his mum took her own life.
They met a representative from Andy’s Man Club at an event at Llanyrafon Football Club and asked how they could start a club in Cwmbran.
This led to them both starting to attend the weekly session in Abergavenny, where they became trained volunteer facilitators.
Once they were trained, they had to find a venue to meet at the same time as every other club in the country- Mondays from 7pm to 9pm.
Llanyrafon Social Club
Llanyrafon Social Club stepped in and offered space for free.
Gareth said: “None of us are trained as mental health practitioners. We are just blokes who can sit there and talk to other blokes. The whole premise is that we provide a platform for men to get things off their chest, to talk. It really does help.”
Alex pointed out: “It’s important to say that you don’t have to talk because lots of people gain things from listening. It’s very difficult to talk about feelings in front of people. I remember my first time. I introduced myself and didn’t say anything else.
“Just to listen to other guys struggling and realise ‘I’m not on my own here’. They’re able to put things in perspective. So sometimes, not to open is fine.”
Men of all ages
Men of all ages attend the session and all are made welcome by the volunteers.
Alex said: “You see guys come into the group that are crushed for numerous reasons, relationship break-ups, financial problems, all these kinds of things.
“It’s about giving these guys the opportunity to get it out and not bottle it up. Suicide is the biggest killer of men aged under 54 in the UK, which is a ridiculous stat.”
“One of the main reasons is we’re not socialised to talk. So men do the old ‘we sit here and talk’ but will talk about rubbish’, and won’t actually say ‘I’m really struggling’.
“These groups allow a peer-to-peer support where guys can speak. One of the biggest contributing factors of men committing suicide is that we don’t talk.”
Gareth said: “There are times when they rib each other, there is that. You form a camaraderie with them. We’re going to miss them up there (Aberagaveny) because we’re coming down here but we’ll stay in touch.”
300 locations
He said the Cwmbran session will follow the same format at every one of the 300 locations in the UK.
Gareth added: Anything you want to get off your chest (apart from “politics, religion, medication, and criminal matters). It could be something positive, it doesn’t have to be negative. Anything.”
They hope the new club in Cwmbran will make it easier for local men who don’t go to Abergavenny because of the distance.
Gareth said: “We go up to Abergavenny every Monday, and there are people from Cwmbran who go there because it’s the closest one, there might be people who don’t because it’s so far away.”
Cwmbran Andy’s Man Club
The Cwmbran club will met for the first time on Monday 17 November from 7pm to 9pm in Llanyrafon Social Club.
There is no need to book. It’s free and you just turn up.