Here at Oxfordshire Mind we are proud to have fantastic supporters who swim, pedal, laugh, bake and yoga-athon away, to name a few of the activities, all in the name of better mental health and raising funds for our vital mental health and wellbeing services across Oxfordshire.
Jericho Comedy, an events company in Oxford run by Oxford locals Alex Farrow and Harry Househam, set about raising money for Oxfordshire Mind in 2015. The duo organise weekly comedy nights, in aid of Oxfordshire Mind at the Jericho Cafe.
On starting the weekly comedy nights for charity the duo said, “We started running comedy nights for the colleges in Oxford in 2015. When we decided to run the shows for charity there was only one cause that united both the comedy community and Oxford student and that was overwhelmingly mental health. There are studies that have shown how prevalent mental health problems are in the creative community and especially with comedians. It seemed like a natural choice to do comedy shows for such a worthy cause.”
Harry and Alex have been keen to expand the reach and audience of the charity gigs, last year they held 50 Gigs for Oxfordshire Mind’s 50th Anniversary which ended with a Gala at the Old Fire Station in Oxford City. 5 shows were performed with acts like Ivo Graham, Rachel Parris and James Acaster who has since had 4 hour long Netflix specials, and Rachel Parris has since exploded as a viral sensation from her regular appearances on BBC’s the mash report. This Gala raised an amazing £3,000!
Jericho Comedy have already sold out the Oxford Playhouse, for a show on the 12th January 2019, with an amazing line up including Nish Kumar, Ed Gamble & Felicity Ward. They have since added another a matinee performance on the same day due to this sell out success!
On why Jericho Comedy chose to fundraise for Oxfordshire Mind; “We’ve worked with Mind for the last 3 years and have always found them to be kind and generous people. Few other charities would support their community fundraisers so much as to take the punt on doing two shows at the Oxford playhouse, it means a lot for them to support us in supporting them! The work they do is really terrific for the mental health of Oxfordshire and the services they provide are not only life changing but often lifesaving. If we can support that work whilst running events that make people feel good and laugh then job done!”
“We’ve raised around £16,700 to date and with the upcoming gala we’re on track to break £20,000 as our total across 3 years of fundraising. We may even break £25,000 if people are generous enough on the night!”
Oxfordshire Mind relies on the vital support of supporters to fund mental health and wellbeing services across the County. Tickets for Oxfordshire Mind Comedy Gala in January 2019 are available to buy here.