On the 18th of March we held our first ever dress down day #positivelypurple asking people to wear something purple for the day and make a small donation. We gave people lots of ideas about how they could introduce purple into their workplace helping to raise money as well as opening up the conversation around mental health. These ranged from holding a purple cake sale to hosting a purple themed quiz.
We were delighted with the way in which local clubs and businesses got involved including two local clubs who have chosen us to be their Charity of the Year. Sam McPherson & Julia Betts from Woking Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club ran a spectacular event selling purple themed cakes, a raffle with prizes donated from local businesses and club members. The morning was topped off with a short taster session introducing mindfulness by Emma Martin, Jeni from Edwin’s Garden Centre spoke about the benefits of plants on your mental health and our CEO Tony Bennett shared about the work we are doing at Woking Mind across Surrey. Captain John Wood hosted a #positivelypurple quiz for us at Chobham Golf Club as well as introducing a purple themed menu for the day.
Our local Geek Retreat in Knaphill embraced a purple theme for the day selling a purple themed milk shake as well as Camus Productions who wore purple.
In the run up to the day our groups at Woking Mind took on a purple theme with our Ramblers wellbeing group wearing purple on their walks and our Shifa Group & Drop-In Group making purple crafts.
Thank you to everyone who got involved. As a local Mind we raise all our own funds for our frontline services. This last year has seen a sharp increase of 70% more people accessing our services. All the money raised will go towards the running of these services helping to ensure that no one faces a mental health problem alone.