NFU to run egg-and-spoon relay for mental health charity
Patrick and Zanna Joice The NFU has asked farmers to support a 130-mile egg-and-spoon relay in a bid to raise awareness of rural mental health issues.
The venture will raise money for the charity You Are Not Alone (Yana) in memory of Patrick Joice, a former NFU poultry board member.
Mr Joice suffered from depression following the diagnosis of a rare cancer, which claimed his life in 2019. Throughout his illness he was committed to increasing awareness around mental health, as well as raising £53,000 for Yana.
NFU chief poultry adviser Aimee Mahony said: “We wanted to carry on Patrick’s legacy, raising awareness about mental health in farming.
“The route will take us across approximately 130 miles – ambitious, but suitably challenging, just as Patrick would have liked it.”
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Sections of the journey will be run by volunteers, many of whom knew Mr Joice or benefited from the Poultry Industry Programme (PIP), which he chaired.
“I would like to encourage as many people as possible to donate what they can to this worthy cause, take part in the relay itself or come along the route to support,” said Ms Mahony.
NFU poultry board chairman and PIP chairman James Mottershead said: “This is a chance for the rural community to come together to raise awareness of mental wellbeing and champion those amazing charities, such as Yana, that provide vital support.
“It is also a chance for all those who knew Patrick to remember and celebrate the man he was and what he achieved during such a difficult part of his life.”
Scrambling for Yana
The 130-mile relay will be launched on 5 May at Mr Joice’s family farm in Norfolk. It will then cross the Midlands and end five days later at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, during the Pig and Poultry Fair on 10 May.
- Friday 6 May South Raynham to Wisbech
- Saturday 7 May Wisbech to Wansford
- Sunday 8 May Wansford to Great Oxenden
- Monday 9 May Great Oxenden to Stareton
- Tuesday 10 May Stareton to Stoneleigh Park
How to help
Donate any amount via the ‘Scrambling for Yana’ Just Giving page.
Volunteer to run or walk three, five or 10 miles of the relay. Contact Aimee.Mahony@nfu.org.uk by 27 April.