James Begg

Jamie and Chris - Cycling Land's End to John O'Groats for mental illness

Fundraising for CENTRED
£5,808
raised of £2,000 target
Donations cannot currently be made to this page
In memory of Anne-Mairi Clegg
CENTRED

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RCN SC003198
We support people with mental ill health to improve their quality of life.

Story

Hi there, thanks for taking a look!

On the 10th of August, my friend Chris and I will be jumping on a train with our bikes heading down to Land's End in Cornwall. Hoping we get down there without any mishaps, we'll then set off cycling north, finding places to camp on the way (and staying with a few pals too) and get to John O' Groats in about 2 weeks time. The plan started on New Year's day this year and is miraculously actually going to happen, and very soon too - yikes.

I personally hadn't really thought about raising money for charity doing this cycle; I've just always fancied doing Land's End to John O'Groats. But then it seemed a bit silly not to, so here we are.

The charity we've chosen is Birchwood Highland, who work with people suffering from mental illness and provide support to aid their recovery. They support people in their own homes, as well as running community activities and their own recovery centre. (A link to their website should be on this page somewhere.) As the name suggests, they're based in the Highlands but cover a wide area, including Fort William. The work they do is of huge importance, especially as mental illness is prevalent in the Highlands, which is often isolating and, to use the correct term for it, pretty blooming dreich sometimes. As well as this, treatment for mental illness has suffered from huge funding cuts - credit to our loving and wonderful Tory government.

So why mental health you may ask. Well, my mum (Anne-Mairi or Tich as she was called quite often) suffered awfully from mental illness for a number of years and never did make a recovery. Almost exactly two years ago she took her own life. It had a huge impact on me, the rest of my family, friends of the family and her friends, neighbours, people who'd tried to help her... And so that's the underlying reason for choosing Birchwood Highland. But also for other family members who suffer from mental illness, friends with depression or suffering from anxiety, locals in our community, friends of friends, even for myself with my occasional bouts of blues - it is sadly very common.

Anyway, sorry for yarning on. It would mean a huge amount to me and Chris if you would donate to this cause. We have a pretty hefty target but hopefully we'll have a good shot at it. (The support so far has been absolutely amazing!) Even if it's the change in your pocket right now or the price of a Freddo (30p, bonkers), we would be incredibly grateful!

Thanks for taking the time to take a look at our page and hopefully we can raise some money to combat this right-old-git of an illness.



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About the charity

CENTRED

Verified by JustGiving

RCN SC003198
Centred is a charity that helps to support people living with mental ill health. We aim to improve quality of life by promoting recovery, inclusion and independence. Along with the use of our discovery college. We support people living in Inverness, Caithness, Easter Ross, and Lochaber.

Donation summary

Total raised
£5,807.07
+ £876.25 Gift Aid
Online donations
£5,807.07
Offline donations
£0.00

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