Pub operator and brewer Brakspear has presented a cheque for £31,296 to Mind, the leading mental health charity, after a year-long fundraising drive across the company’s 130 pubs.
Brakspear’s pub and head office teams raised money in variety of ways, ranging from the simple but effective collection tin on the bar to events lasting a weekend. In their support for the charity, Brakspear pubs hosted family fun days, golf days, darts challenges, raffles and auctions, Easter Egg hunts, barbecues and more.
There were feats of sporting endeavour and endurance, including a team from Brakspear’s head office completing the Thames Towpath Challenge – a 100km continuous walk from Putney Bridge to Henley, which raised £5,300. As well as events, many pubs raised money regularly by suggesting customers donate money for a carafe of tap water, or adding an optional 50p to a popular menu item.
Brakspear chief executive Tom Davies said, “This was our third estate-wide charity partnership and we’re delighted that our pub and head office teams have again risen to the challenge and thrown themselves into fundraising for Mind.
“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, on both sides of the bar. We’re very proud to have collected this sum, which will enable Mind to continue its life-changing work.”
Emma Ihsan, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Mind, said: “We are so grateful to Brakspear’s pub and head office teams for supporting Mind over the past year, and are delighted to receive this cheque.
“They have embraced all manner of fundraising activities, from the creative to the physically challenging, and have achieved a fantastic total. The money raised will help us to provide advice, information and support so that no one has to face their mental health problem alone.”
The Unicorn in Kingwood near Henley raised £2,010 for Mind and won Brakspear’s Best Fundraising Pub award. Licensee, Rachel Selman, who runs the pub with mum Alison and brother Dan, said: “Most of the money raised came from our Summer Fayre last May. It was a great community event, with tremendous support from our customers who baked cakes, donated generous items for the raffle and tombola and manned stalls on the day. We also had live music and a barbecue throughout the day.
“Our wonderful customers, friends and family also sponsored me to run the Reading Half Marathon for Mind last year, and money raised at our monthly quiz nights also went to the same great cause.”
“Mind was a charity that everyone was happy to support; mental health is high profile and everyone knows someone who has experienced problems. We were delighted to raise so much for this worthy charity.”
