Gordon Dickens (left) and Graeme Dickens (right), licensees at the Hollybush, REdbourn, with team member Lauren Berryman

 

Brakspear is supporting Mind, the leading mental health charity, for the next 12 months, with fundraising already under way in a number of its 130 pubs.

Brakspear is aiming to raise £60,000 for Mind over the year as pubs and head office teams get behind the charity with a raft of fundraising activities, from pub quizzes to live music nights and sporting endeavours.

All pubs have received a collecting tin and a fundraising pack full of inspiring ideas from Mind, including a number of suggestions for the festive season.

Brakspear chief executive, Tom Davies, said: “This is our third estate-wide charity campaign, and we’re confident that our licensees, their teams and customers, will once again rise to the challenge with enthusiasm, creativity and hard work and ensure our support for Mind is a great success.

“With one in four people in the UK experiencing a mental health problem in any one year, it’s an issue that affects all of us, whether we work in pubs or at head office. I’m sure we will all be motivated to help this great charity continue its work.”

 

Vital work and campaigning

 

Rebecca Hastings, head of corporate partnerships at Mind, said: “We are delighted to be Brakspear’s charity of the year. The company’s support will help us to reach a point where anyone with a mental health problem feels able to ask for, and access, the help they need.

“Money raised will help fund our vital work including our Mind Infoline, information and advice services, and our campaigning to ensure anyone facing a mental health problem gets support and respect.”

Gordon Dickens, licensee at the Hollybush, in Redbourn in Hertfordshire, said: “We’re long-term supporters of Mind, so we’re delighted that Brakspear has chosen it as their charity for the next year.

“We raised £300 through a pub quiz recently and we have other fundraisers in the pipeline, including our annual charity football match, which raised more than £4,500 earlier this year.

“Mental health is a problem that affects so many people and yet hasn’t been given the support it deserves, so we’re doing all we can to help Mind.”

Brakspear has previously supported Sue Ryder and Marie Curie across its estate, raising a total of £92,000 for the two charities. Pubs are supported throughout the year with ideas and a range of point of sle items, such as stickers for menus and collars for tap water carafes.