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A great cause - please support the Naked Farmer Charity Cricket Day

25th May 2019 / By Richard Longthorp

Mental Health is a very live issue at present - because it is a very live problem.

Naked Farmer

Thankfully most Agricultural organisations are doing their bit in raising awareness and signposting help and NPA are right in there with their Allied Industry Support Network.

But of course, as ever, it is not the generic but the specific that brings home the real intensity and immediacy of the problem. And so it was truly inspiring to see the Farmer’s Weekly article about Poultry Farmer, Patrick Joice this week.

I know Patrick as he did the Professional Managers Development Scheme course I am involved with a couple of years ago

Shortly after completing the course Patrick was diagnosed with terminal cancer and then to cap it all he developed severe depression as he battled to come to terms with that diagnosis.

Patrick would feel uncomfortable if I told him this but he is genuinely one of life’s great guys. Great company, vibrant, energetic, very successful in his business but incredibly modest and unassuming at the same time. Exactly the sort of bloke you would turn to if you needed help yourself.

Patrick’s is but one sad but nevertheless inspiring example of the issue of Mental Health. But he is one of the few who has been strong enough and brave enough to bare it all in public – literally as well as metaphorically!

I would therefore ask that you support Patrick in his fundraising efforts. And in particular Patrick is very keen to talk to any companies who might be interested in sponsoring his “Naked Farmer Charity Cricket Day”, which takes place on June 22 at Brisley Cricket Club, Dereham Norfolk.

In Patrick’s own words: "The Charity event we are holding ‘The Naked Farmer Charity Cricket Day’ is in part to honour Ben Brookesby who set up the Aussie Naked Farmer site to raise awareness of mental health in agriculture, say thank you to YANA but primarily to smash the stigma of mental health both in society and agriculture and in the process raise money to allow YANA to continue their extraordinary and much needed work."