THANK goodness there are people in the world like Riki Hall.

As reported in The Bolton News this week, he acted when he saw a distressed man standing on the edge of a bridge over the A666 near Raikes Lane on Saturday.

Mr Hall had been driving past with his family and stopped to get out and approach the man.

From his experience of working in the prison service, he knew it was crucial to handle the situation calmly and offer reassurance.

He spoke to the man for 10 minutes, telling him to think again.

Eventually the man allowed himself to be — literally and metaphorically — helped back from the edge.

Mr Hall’s wife called 999 and police later made sure the man was safe.

He was very lucky indeed that Mr Hall went of his way to stop and help, preventing a potentially tragic outcome.

Unless you have personally experienced a mental health issue or know someone who has, it is impossible to understand the anguish suffered by the individual affected.

However, you don’t have to understand it to be able to have compassion and empathy for someone who has got to the stage where they feel the world might be better off without them.

There are signs on the bridges over St Peter’s Way, with information and contact numbers of organisations that can help. If they make one person pause and think again, they have done their job.

But there are also other notes attached to the railings.

They reminded me of the story of a woman from Tameside who had contemplated taking her own life.

Mum-of-two Lisa Barnes, aged 46, had reached such a dark place in her life that last year she found herself standing on a bridge ready to jump.

At that point, there was no thought of the family and friends who loved her, or the devastation her death might cause. When you are in that state of mind, those positive images are blotted out by the darkness.

She was on the bridge for three hours before a negotiator managed to talk her down.

Afterwards, Lisa launched a project called Bridge The Gap.

As part of that initiative, she decorates bridges with heartfelt handwritten notes of love and support to remind people they are not on their own.

Lisa says she believes that if she had seen a message that had clearly taken someone time and effort to write and place on the bridge where she had contemplated taking her own life, it might have given her hope.

She has placed notes on bridges in Tameside and Stockport and says she wants to do the same elsewhere in Greater Manchester and possibly even see it become a community project.

It is good to see that these personal messages have appeared on bridges in Bolton to reassure those who feel at their lowest point. Someone once said that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Perhaps these heartfelt messages may help those in torment see the truth in that statement.