Lads Advice

23/04/2026

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Happy St George’s Day Lads! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

We’re a funny bunch, the English.

We’ll take the p**s out of you to your face,
but defend you to the death if some prick talks you down behind your back.

We’ll call you an unreliable wa**er,
then back your latest venture like you’re Tom setting up MySpace.
Call you a prick all day,
then drive two hours when the s**t hits the fan and you need a dig out.

We moan. Constantly.
Weather, work, life, watered-down beer—doesn’t matter.
Still get s**t done.
We’d be bored if we had nothing to drip about.

We’ll complain about change and treat anything new with suspicion,
then happily scran food we borrowed from three different continents and call it tradition.
Because once we like you, we love you. You’re one of us.

Nothing’s ever a “big moment”—
even when it is. Yet we’re fiercely proud.

We don’t panic.
We don’t gush.
We just sort it.

Bit of humour. Bit of stubbornness. Total loyalty.
Keep calm. Carry on.

When it goes wrong, you don’t get a speech.
You get:

“Yeah… could be worse.”

Kettle goes on.
Someone says something wildly inappropriate or spins a funny dit.
And somehow, that’s enough.

This is England.

🦁🍻 Happy St George’s Day boys. Love to you all 🍻🦁

21/04/2026

Today would mark the 100th Birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth II

The longest reigning monarch in British history

The second ever to reach a Platinum Jubilee

Served in World War 2

Sat alone at her husbands funeral during Covid

True servant leadership

Happy Birthday Ma’am

RIP

10/04/2026

On 12th August 2025, we lost our brother Steve Hughes — a proud British Army soldier, serving as a Corporal in The Royal Welsh .

Words don’t do justice to the kind of bloke he was, and he is missed every day.

We wanted to honour him in a way that also does something useful — something that speaks to blokes, especially those serving, who might be struggling in silence.

Often soldiers worry that asking for support when things are rough may not be compatible with an identity built around service and being robust. We are here to tell you — the two go hand in hand.

Sometimes life presents situations where it can be difficult to see a way forward, or to believe that others can help. Saying it out loud to someone you trust can change that.. Even, and often especially, when you think it can’t or won’t.

Cliché as it may sound - We are always stronger together. Those to your left and right want you to be okay, just the same as you are there for them.

Steve’s mum Fiona Fairclough kindly donated his mess dress to us, and we are massively grateful to Signwriting and Framing Hereford for creating this tribute to Steve — a reminder of the brotherhood we all share, and that when we support each other, we are strong.

It will be displayed in the Faculty of Leadership, Security & Warfare RMA Sandhurst in memory of Corporal Hughes, and as a reminder of the duty of care we owe to each other — to those on our left and right, and up and down.

Please feel free to share.

If you would like to support our fundraiser for James’ Place in memory of Steve, you can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/justbefu***ngkind

23/03/2026

Royal Welsh lads,

We’ve just heard about Ricky.

I’m not going to try and dress this up with the right words. There aren’t any. You boys have had a fu***ng awful run and we are all absolutely gutted for you, to be honest.

Me and the Lads Advice team met a lot of you at Steve’s funeral. You’re a mega bunch of lads and it was obvious how much you care about and look out for each other.

So if you’re carrying things, whether that’s from recently or from years ago, don’t just keep it to yourself and try to be the bloke who handles everything alone.

And if you’re keeping quiet because you think you’ve messed something up, let someone down, should’ve handled something better, or you’re beating yourself up about something — that’s exactly the sort of stuff you shouldn’t be dealing with on your own.

Speak to someone. A mate, an oppo, someone you trust, or someone in this group (Lads’ Advice). Quiet word, brew, walk, phone call — doesn’t matter. Just don’t do it on your own.

Sometimes things can feel insurmountable, like there’s no way forward. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t one — and a lot of the time it starts with saying it out loud to someone. Problems shared have a way of getting smaller, or at least easier to carry.

So please lads — go easy on the beers for a bit, keep an eye on each other, and check in properly. You’ll get through this together.

We are here to support in any way we can.

If you’d rather speak to someone anonymously, PAPYRUS are on 0800 068 41 41, 24 hours a day.

Likewise Samaritans 116 123

If you are ever worried about someone’s immediate safety, call 999.

Big love to you boys. Here if you need.

Gav and the team

08/03/2026

Nothing We Shared Is Lost

Death is not the end of what we were.
A life has ended, but a life lived does not vanish.

I am out of your sight now.
That is all.

You are still you.
And I am part of the life that shaped you.

Whatever we were to each other
does not change.

Call me by the name you always used.
Speak of me in the ordinary way.

There is no need for heavy voices
or careful words.

Laugh when something reminds you of me.
Tell the stories.
The stupid ones.
The ones told over pints, campfires, or long drives home.

Nothing we lived disappears.

The habits we shared,
the lessons we learned,
the marks we left on each other—
they remain in lives still moving forward.

Life continues as it always has:
unfinished, complicated, emerging.

If our relationship was part of your past,
it continues to shape your story as it unfolds.

So live well.
Keep going.

What we were to each other —

keep it alive
in the life you live.

From Masculinity in the Trenches
Gav Topley, 2026

01/03/2026

Hear hear! All on the Board 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

24/02/2026

Lads’ Advice at Men’s Mental Health Conference today.

Important conversations about how we better support men and boys — especially those who don’t naturally engage with traditional services.

Our work has always been about meeting lads where they actually are: through connection, shared experience, and honest conversation, long before things reach crisis point.

Good to see growing recognition that prevention starts with culture, not just services.

14/02/2026

25/01/2026

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We'll drink a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne

To absent friends 🍻

Happy Burns Night Lads!

09/01/2026

We love this from

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) 💪👏🚨

Please share 🙂

More info: https://orlo.uk/Dp0ln

22/12/2025