Member Article

Funday raises mental health charity cash

THREE hundred staff and their families from the Peterlee branch of a global automotive supplier attended a funday which raised over £800 for a mental health charity.

Health advocates at Peterlee’s ZF TRW, which supplies automotive safety electronics to companies worldwide, organized the funday at Peterlee Leisure Centre.

The event saw a string of fun activities on offer for all the family.

These included a disco, magician, photo booth, balloon modelling, face-painting, a candy floss machine, bouncy castle, surf simulator, bungee run, penalty shoot-out, inflatable gladiator dueling arena, and a raffle with 24 prizes – the top prize being a curved TV.

Staff and their families were also treated to some hearty grub from a local catering company.

Monies raised on the day were donated to Tyneside & Northumberland Mind.

The charity was chosen as the benefactor of the annual ZF TRW funday event following a string of mental-health activities for the company’s employees at work.

The plant places great focus on the mental health and wellbeing of their staff and recently organized with MIND acupuncture, meditation and mindfulness sessions for the workers.

ZF TRW’s HR manager Lisa Walton said: “We had over 300 people turn up at the funday and we raised over £800 for such a vital cause.

She added: “A great time was had by all and it was all for such a great charity.

“We take the health and wellbeing of our employees very seriously so it was great to be able to give a little something back to a charity which helps in the area.”

Emily Pearson, from Tyneside MIND, said: “ZF TRW Peterlee have recognised that there’s a culture of fear and silence around mental health, and its passion to ensure a happy and healthy workforce has driven the management to make some very important changes.

“By working with us at Tyneside and Northumberland Mind, we have delivered bespoke training and produced information booklets to raise awareness and reduce stigma of mental health issues within the workplace.

“We have also up-skilled managers and health advocates to identify problems early and to support staff appropriately and within the law.”

She added: “We would like to thank the staff at the company for their very generous donations from the funday at Peterlee.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Felicity Collinson .