Lads Advice

Almost 200,000 people have now seen our post about what happened when a group of lads at Boomtown noticed that Adam was on his own and simply made room for him.

That story belongs to Adam and the lads who welcomed him. Please keep following Adam and supporting his music over on Insta: .

But the response tells us something bigger too.

People understand that belonging matters.

Being noticed matters.

Having somebody say, “You’re with us, mate,” can change the course of a person’s day, and sometimes much more than that.

Lads’ Advice was built around the same principle: men looking out for one another through banter, friendship, advice, practical support and the willingness to have difficult conversations when they are needed.

Men don’t have to join because they have decided they are struggling. Most join because they fancy some banter, want advice about something ordinary or think they might be able to help another lad.

That is the point.

Nobody has to adopt a diagnosis, disclose their deepest feelings or become a different version of themselves to belong and add value. But if life does go sideways, they are already part of a group whose culture they know: one where they can speak without judgement and remain valued and one of the lads.

Our mate and co-founder, Corporal Steve Hughes of The Royal Welsh, put it more simply:

“Just be fu***ng kind.”

We lost Steve to su***de last year, and he is missed every day. We are determined to have a positive impact in his name.

To that end, we are now raising money in his memory for James’ Place UK, which provides free, focused therapy to men in suicidal crisis.

Friendship and ordinary kindness matter enormously.

Sometimes, a man also needs specialist help.

James’ Place gives him somewhere to receive it from trained therapists who understand how to work with a man when his world feels as though it is falling down around him and no way forward seems clear.

If Adam’s story reminded you how much it matters to be accepted without having to hide any part of yourself or your situation, please consider helping another man find support without having to hide what he is facing.

You can donate in Steve’s memory - The donation link is in our bio and in the comments below.

There is no minimum. Every donation is appreciated, and every penny will help James’ Place continue supporting men in suicidal crisis.

If donating isn’t possible, sharing this post or following Lads’ Advice here or on Instagram: (or if you’re a lad, joining Lads’ Advice) all helps. It enables stories about decent men, practical support and services that save lives to travel further.

Thank you to everybody who showed Adam and those lads so much love.

Let’s turn some of that love into something lasting.



Just be fu***ng kind. ❤️

LCpl Liam Potts’ Dad Paul has released a statement via the UK Ministry Of Defence

He said:

“There are lots of wonderful things being said about our son, which has genuinely touched our hearts. Myself, Mandy, James and Erin would like to thank everyone so much for their kindness and help over this last week”.

“A very special thank you to Liam’s other family, the British Army, and particularly his fellow Coldstreamers. Their support during this very emotional time is ‘Nulli Secundus’.”

“Without question, our brilliant rescue volunteers and professionals have, with dignity and a world class standard, done the whole Northeast proud.“

“A tragedy like this has and will continue to affect everyone. I hope each person involved can get and receive help if needed.”

Rest easy Potts. Gone far too soon.

Our thoughts are with your friends, family and oppos at the Coldstream Guards

Until the Re-Org 🍻

Social media has no shortage of stories about young men at their worst.

This deserves to travel just as far.

Because honestly, what these lads did, and the response from the wider Boomtown , festival and DJ communities since, is fu***ng brilliant.

Adam has autism and ADHD. He saved for a year to attend his first festival and went to Boomtown alone.

A group of complete strangers met him there, welcomed him into their camp and treated him as one of their own for the next three days.

When he returned home, he cried and told his dad:

“I think I’ve found my people.”

They didn’t run a workshop.

They didn’t pity him or demand that he open up.

They didn’t treat him like a problem that needed fixing.

They simply made room for him.

We sometimes make support sound far more complicated than it needs to be. It doesn’t always begin with somebody asking for help.

Sometimes it begins with an invitation.

A place in the group.

Someone saying, “Come with us, mate.”

Feeling like you belong matters. It changes whether you turn up, whether you join in and whether you believe there is a place for you.

These lads didn’t make Adam earn that place by pretending to be somebody else. They showed him it was already there.

They may never have heard of Lads’ Advice, but they embodied everything we have spent the past six years building in our group:

Make room.

Don’t judge.

Bring people in.

Adam is a drum and bass DJ and you can find him and his music at Adzo .

And if this reaches the lads who welcomed him into their camp, you’re welcome among us any time. You already understand exactly what we’re about.

And Adam, that invitation obviously includes you. There’s a Lads’ Advice hoodie here for you and each of the boys, on us, if you’d like them.

Our mate Steve Hughes helped build Lads’ Advice around one very simple message before we sadly lost him last year:

“Just be fu***ng kind.”

These lads did exactly that.

Absolutely spot on, boys. You nailed it 👏

Give Adzo a follow, show him his people extend a little bit further than Boomtown and help this story travel.



BBC News

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UPDATE: Over a quarter of a million people have now seen this post.

The response to Adam and these lads has been incredible.

Their story illustrates something we care deeply about at Lads’ Advice: being able to belong without hiding any part of yourself or your situation.

We’ve shared more about that, our mate and co-founder Corporal Steve Hughes, and the fundraiser we are running in his memory for James’ Place UK here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/1FrHLsK5t7/

Just imagine the difference we could make if every viewer donated even £1 to our fundraiser for James’ Place UK💪🫡🙏😍

Please keep supporting Adam and his music over on Instagram at too. This remains his story first.

Hi Lads,

I’m Taylor, I’m 16 and I have a briefing at 18:00hrd about joining the British Army and going to

My Dad is one of the mods and he said that you guys would probably have some good advice to help me out with this.

I was in air cadets, which I loved, but have decided to go down the or Royal Signals route as it matches more of my interests. (I also think it’s more fun to dig in, than check in🫡😂)

I would like to know opinions, experiences or advice on either of them please

So if any of you boys have any advice re capbadge/trade, the zoom call I’ve got booked in to attend after the briefing, AFC Harrogate, or army life in general I’d really appreciate it.

I’d like to hear any and all advice because I would like to understand what it can be like, and what to expect from training and army life in general. I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who recently went to Harrogate or who are currently serving as sappers or signallers.

Drop your thoughts in the comments.

Cheers boys👊

Taylor

The Padre

Update

Northumbria Police have confirmed that a body has been recovered from the River Tyne near Wylam Bridge during the search for Liam.

Formal identification has not yet taken place, but Liam’s family have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.

Please do not continue sharing the missing-person appeal.

Our thoughts are with Liam’s family, friends and Coldstream Guards colleagues at this desperately difficult time.

Really awful news.

RIP Potts. Until the final RV.

Beacon Alert

Lads’ Advice

Coldstream Guards

A year ago today, we lost Steve Hughes.

And honestly, it’s no less a kick in the guts now than it was then.

Steve was one of the team. He helped set up Lads’ Advice and build the group into what it is today. He was so convinced of the need for a group like ours that he stayed up all night designing our classic logo. He believed completely in what we do, and didn’t just talk about our ethos, but lived it.

Steve was one of those blokes who would show up for other people with no need for thanks and no need to be seen doing it.

He was both one of the men, and a special kind of man. Emotionally intelligent, a natural leader and a proud Corporal in The Royal Welsh.

He was 25 when we lost him.

A year later, the community he helped build has grown to more than 10,000 men across three platforms. They’re still taking the p**s out of each other, celebrating each other’s wins, offering advice and making sure that no one is defined by something they’re facing or has to fear judgement if they ask for help.. Small things that our members tell us can be life-saving.

Since losing our mate, we’ve been raising money in his memory for James’ Place UK, which provides free, expert 1:1 support for men experiencing suicidal crisis. We’re sitting at almost £3K, with another £1,000 about to be added when we draw our raffle.

But today isn’t about a fundraising total.

It’s about remembering our friend.

The lad behind the logo. The bloke who always gave a s**t. The man who should still be here.

Join us if you can in raising a glass to Steve at 21:00hrs tonight.

In the meantime, check in on a mate, make someone feel seen, or just be a little bit kinder than you needed to be. Steve lived by the words **kingKind 💙 and in that way we would all benefit from following his example.

If you’d like to support James’ Place in Steve’s memory, our fundraiser is here:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/justbefu***ngkind

We miss you so much mate. This will never not be s**t. But we will continue what we started together.

Until the FRV.

Here’s to absent friends. 🍻

Are you following us on Instagram yet? 👀🔥

RIP Nims

Shocked to read this this morning.

We’d not met him but had spoken a fair bit about Lads’. advice via Twitter before it became X and got a bit s**t.

He was alway humble and the perfect gent.

A huge loss.

Dean Stott MBE who knew Nims personally put it well:

Nims and I served together in the Special Boat Service, in the same squadron. We also came in by the same unusual route as Army Commando engineers first, then selection. He was the first Gurkha in history to pass into the SBS. At every stage of his life, he was told what wasn’t realistic, and treated that as the starting line rather than the finish.
What I’d want anyone in my network to take from his life isn’t the records. It’s that he refused to accept a ceiling that other people had drawn for him, and then spent the back half of his career pulling other people up through it, particularly the Nepali climbers who had spent generations carrying other people’s expeditions without their names on them. He changed what an entire community believed it was entitled to.
He died doing what he loved, in the place he was most himself. Nobody gets to argue with that.
My thoughts are with his wife Suchi and family, his teammates, and with the families of every climber lost on Broad Peak this week. This wasn’t one loss. It was many.

Rest in Peace Frogman

A wise man once said