This week Oxfordshire Mind held it’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). The AGM brings together Oxfordshire Mind Members, Supporters, Staff, Partners and Service Users to share our highlights and achievements from over the past year.
Throughout the evening we also celebrated key achievements with the ‘Oxfordshire Mind Supporter Awards of 2018’ these went to:
Crowdfunder of the Year – CERNEY KILBEE
- Winner – Oxfordshire Weather Watch – Cerney Kilbee
- At the beginning of 2018 Oxfordshire Weather Watch raised donations for Oxfordshire Mind through their Facebook page. The page owner Cerney Kilbee chose to campaign for Oxfordshire Mind and rally around his Facebook community to donate to the charity through his JustGiving page. Oxfordshire Weather Watch has 7,752 likes on their page.
- Raised: £230
Running Team of the Year – TEAM JESSIE
- Winners – Team Jessie – Beccy Bennett and team (Oxford Half Marathon runners)
- Group of 7 who ran the Oxford Half Marathon in memory of Beccy’s sister Jessie Laverack)
- Raised: £2,240
Fundraising Team of the Year – POLICE OFFICER INTAKE AA18
- Winners – Police Officer Intake AA18 (Thames Valley Police)
- Police Officer Intake AA18 (Thames Valley Police) who together took on The Ibstone Circle 5k in aid of Oxfordshire Mind on the 22nd April.
Together the Intake got around a very tough and hilly route in just 44 minutes, this was an amazing achievement considering they were in full patrol kits and boots on such a hot and sunny day! They had great public support, whilst raising awareness for Oxfordshire Mind and mental health issues which can affect the emergency services.
- Raised: £1,115
Young Fundraisers of the Year – LOVE YOUR MIND
- Winners: The Love Your Mind Team (Cherwell School)
- In July the Love Your MIND Team at Cherwell School campaigned to raise awareness around mental health and wellbeing of students in Oxfordshire.
The team said, “The campaign, called ‘Love your MIND’ is all about stopping the stigmas of mental health and making people more aware of the issue”.
The team chose to campaign through twitter and fundraise specifically for Oxfordshire Mind, holding a cake sale and stall at their Citizenship Fayre.
- Raised: £305.51
Outstanding commitment – JERICHO COMEDY
- Winner – Alex Farrow and Harry Househam – Jericho Comedy
- Alex and Harry met doing stand-up on the Oxford comedy scene in 2015 and soon decided to put on shows together and became known as ‘Jericho Comedy’. What started out as nights put on for local Oxford colleges in aid of Oxfordshire Mind slowly built into what it is today… They have since performed in over 20 colleges and have put on sold-out shows since September 2016, with over 200 shows packed to the rafters and a crowd full of loyal regulars.
After three years Jericho Comedy now performs a show every Saturday at the Jericho Cafe. Which has been described as ‘the top 5 comedy venues in the UK’ (Culture Calling) as well as “A roaring success at creating vibrant comedy across Oxfordshire” ★★★★ ( The Oxford Times) “Jericho comedy never disappoints” Daily Info.
- During 2017, Jericho Comedy organised 50 comedy nights in aid of Oxfordshire Mind‘s 50th Anniversary which raised £8,700. More recently they have a full house attending the 2019 Comedy Gala at the play house with over 600 tickets sold and there’s more to come from this amazingly creative and supportive duo.
Corporate fundraiser of the year – BRETHERTONS
- Winners: Brethertons LLP Solicitors
- Brethertons LLP Solicitors has chosen to support Mind as their charity of the year this year and are raising money through various fundraising and events.
In July the firm invited Oxfordshire Mind to attend their annual staff conference, where we were asked to present the Mind ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ to staff.
On the day of the conference Brethertons raised a wonderful £450 which they presented to Oxfordshire Mind in August at their Banbury office.
- Raised: £450
Special Mention
- Richard and Jacqueline Dixon for creating an annual festival Ziggyfest, in memory of Zak Harper
- In June 2018 Ziggyfest IV took place and raised an amazing £5,326.46 bringing their total to an incredible £42,798.31
Team Ziggy has organised Ziggyfest in Leafield since 2015, the festival was set up in memory of Zak Harper who was only 21 when he tragically took his own life in September 2014. To help others who are suffering from mental illnesses, and prevent other families suffering like they did, Zak’s family set about raising money for Oxfordshire Mind ever since.
- Raised: £42,798.31 in total