Chairman’s event helps raise funds for local mental health charities

It has been the focus of her year in office as Chairman of Buckinghamshire County Council and earlier this week that focus on mental health rose to its peak at a Charity Dinner at Dorneywood hosted by Patricia Birchley.

The event, on Wednesday 25 April, was attended by guests from across Buckinghamshire and beyond. They were treated to dinner in the property, currently the residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond and a talk from guest speaker Chris Salmon, Executive Director for Markets at the Bank of England. Chris spoke about mental health in the workplace, in particular the work carried out at the Bank to raise staff awareness of mental health issues and improve training and support to all employees.

Money raised from the dinner was presented to two local charities, Lindengate and Young Minds.More than £4,000 was raised. £3,600 was donated to Lindengate and £700 to Young Minds. These funds, when added to other fund-raising initiatives throughout Patricia’s year in office bring the total raised by the Chairman to more than £22,000 to be shared amongst a total of seven local charities.

Lindengate is a mental health charity that offers specialised gardening activities to those with mental health needs. Using the healing power of nature and the outdoors the charity helps sufferers to improve mental wellbeing, boost self-esteem and social inclusion and encourage long term recovery. Support is tailored to each individual and includes a whole range of activities beyond regular gardening including construction, conservation, cooking, art and craft.

Michael Harris, Director of Lindengate said: “We are very proud and pleased to have had our cause championed by Patricia Birchley in the past year. We are dedicated to being at the heart of the Bucks community supporting mental health into the future and generous donations such as the one we have received today will ensure that we are able to do this.”

Young Minds is a national charity championing the wellbeing and mental health of young people across the UK. Their work focuses on promoting good mental health to children and young people and championing the voice of young people and parents to influence mental health policy and practice.

Speaking after the event, Patricia Birchley said: “I would like to thank everyone who attended this event and for their generous contributions in supporting these two charities. Both organisations carry out such valuable work in our local communities. Mental health issues can affect any one of us at any time in our lives so it is important that services and support is readily available to all.”