Former boxer Frank Bruno has teamed up with Heineken UK for its Brewing Good Cheer campaign, promoting awareness of loneliness this Christmas.
The campaign will see 50 pubs joining up with local charities to host free pub lunches over the festival period for hundreds of socially isolated or vulnerable people.
The former heavyweight boxing champion and mental health campaigner took a ringside seat as he went back to his South London roots to see how one pub is helping vulnerable people this December.
Frank, who recently released his memoirs documenting his own battle with mental health and struggle against loneliness, entitled Let Me Be Frank, co-hosted a Brewing Good Cheer lunch to launch the month-long campaign at The White Horse, close to his childhood home and the gym where he used to train.
He was joined by members of Opening Doors, a support network for elderly people in the LGBT community, and people from Sound Minds, a charity that uses art, music and film to help people deal with depression or other mental illnesses.
Friendship
Frank also chatted to locals in the pub about how he overcame his own battle with loneliness. He even got stuck in behind the bar and lent a hand serving out the lunches.
Frank said: “Without the strong support and safety net of my friends and supporters, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you today. Their friendship and company not only helped during dark times in my life, but also prevented me from being alone and dwindling even further down that road.
“Millions of others will not only agree with me, but will also identify with my situation, so I am glad Heineken is taking positive steps to address this issue.
“I completely identify with the ethos of Brewing Good Cheer. Pubs are a totally unique British institution, and bring people from all walks of life together, unlike anywhere else in the world. I think pubs provide a great setting to connect lonely and isolated people and to bring some much needed Christmas cheer.”
Frank and ambassadors from both charity organisations tell their first hand experiences of learning to deal with loneliness in a series of videos available on the Heineken UK YouTube page
