Buckinghamshire Mind held a benefit gig, Busk for Bucks Mind, on Friday 6th July at Dukes Aylesbury, to raise funds for our mental health services.

The event, sponsored by Esri UK Ltd, featured a host of incredible musical talent, both acoustic and electric, and was headlined by El Bronson. Other local performers included Nightjar, The Respites, Harry Quinn, JP&betty, Suzy Bee, Jim Marvin, The Recovered and Róisín Johnston.

Funds were raised through ticket sales and donations given by the many generous supporters who attended the event.

The difference these funds will make to the lives of people with mental health problems is best illustrated by Buckinghamshire Mind’s service users:

“If it wasn’t for Bucks Mind I don’t know where I’d be. They’ve really helped me so much.”

 – Counselling service user

“The support group has been so valuable. It has given me the opportunity to express any issues and talk through any problems. It gives me the chance to meet other people who are experiencing the same or similar as me and to find support.”

 – Marlow Feel Good Group member

“When I started coming to Friends in Need I was suicidal but now I am about to start a new job. Coming to Friends in Need has given me back my self-confidence, got rid of my feelings of worthlessness and given my self-esteem a boost!”

 – Friends in Need member

The Time to Change Buckinghamshire ‘hub’ was launched at this year’s Busk for Bucks Mind. The hub is an exciting, new approach to get everyone in Buckinghamshire talking more about mental health.

Time to Change is a growing national social movement that aims to change how we all think and act about mental health, to help end the stigma and discrimination attached to it. The County Council and Buckinghamshire Mind are lead partners for the Buckinghamshire hub, with wider support from organisations and individuals from across the county.

The aim of the Buckinghamshire hub is to support residents, communities, workplaces and schools to help end the negative attitudes and behaviours towards people experiencing mental health problems. The ethos behind the hub is to put people with personal experience of mental health at the heart of the work.

“Busk for Bucks Mind was hugely successful, particularly in terms of raising awareness and encouraging people to talk about mental health,” says Buckinghamshire Mind’s Kaya Mallinder. “We would like to thank everyone who came along to support us and enjoy the amazing music, we hope they had a great night.”

Special thanks to the event sponsors, Esri UK Ltd, all the talented musicians who performed at the event, Dukes Aylesbury for the fantastic venue, Moonlite Productions for providing highly professional sound engineering, the BBC’s Andy Holmes for compering, JP and

Bluepepper for designing and printing the publicity materials, photographer Owen Spencer and all our wonderful volunteers.