A BRIDPORT man will speak about his 'mental anguish and quiet depression' at a night of film and live music next month.

Filmmaker and songwriter Clive Whaley will raise awareness and funding to help people with mental health problems with an uplifting evening called 21st Century Blues, based partly on his own experience with depression.

Four years ago, Clive staged a similar event - combining film and love music in his musical documentary Lonely Boys.

"Lonely Boys attracted packed houses and standing ovations" said Clive.

"I am unashamedly using a similar format and a similar theme of repressed male emotion for this event. I'm even repeating some of the favourite moments from that show, but I think people will forgive me for that."

Clive feels that more men need to admit to having mental health problems, to talk about it and seek help.

“As a middle aged bloke with depression, I thought I would be labelled weak and unemployable" he said. "For a while I hid it even from my own family. But I’ve had enough of hiding. This event is about me ‘coming out’ if you like. I’ve had this thing which is very common, it’s quite normal. I’m not weak, I’m recovering from a really tough time and it’s made me stronger and a more rounded individual.”

Despite the subject matter, Clive is at pains to stress that the evening will not be all doom and gloom. “There will be some hard hitting moments about mental illness but there will also be comedy and some films and music that are just there to uplift and entertain people. I don’t think it is a contradiction to say that we are aiming for an uplifting evening about depression.”

Clive has teamed up again with the highly experienced Steve Jones as musical director and there will also be a number of surprise special guests throughout the evening. All profits from ticket sales will be donated to local mental health charities.

21st Century Blues is on at Bridport Arts Centre on Friday, June 12 at 7.30pm.

For more information call Bridport Arts Centre on 01308 424204.