News ‘Naked Farmer’ hosts mental health charity day
for a Naked Farmer Cricket Day in aid of the You Are Not Alone mental health project. Mr Joice, of Uphouse Farm,
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South Raynham, is hosting the fund-raising event this month as a thank you for the help he is re- ceiving from YANA after being di- agnosed with severe depression – and to raise awareness of mental health among farmers.
The depression came on after
Mr Joice was diagnosed with ter- minal cancer last year. “Our world came crashing down – it is diffi- cult to describe,” he said. “Initial- ly, they gave me five months to live, and that is difficult to take.” Mr Joice says he initially had no understanding of depression and refused to believe he had it. “I ignored it,” he said. “I thought it was rubbish – and just kept go- ing. I thought people with depres- sion just needed a good kick up the backside – including me.”
‘Body broken’
Things took a turn for the worse after Mr Joice arrived in Aus- tralia for a family holiday. While there, his wife Zanna and her family persuaded him to see a local doctor, who drew a picture to explain how the brain can be-
Help is at hand
YANA provides confidential support, mental health awareness and funding for counselling in In Norfolk and Suffolk. It also compiled a directory of other support groups for farmers and people living in rural communities. For details, visit
www.yanahelp.org.
Zanna and Patrick Joice
come broken just like any other part of the body. “It was at that stage I real- ised I needed some help,” he said. A friend contacted the Nor- folk-based YANA project on Mr Joice’s behalf. On returning to England, he began attending con- fidential counselling sessions – something he was reluctant to do, but says continues to be of tre- mendous benefit.
“The depression is much worse that the prognosis of the can- cer,” he said. “It is all-consuming and really very scary. Thanks to
orfolk poultry producer Patrick Joice has been inundated with support
‘Naked Farmer’ Patrick Joice strips off to raise mental health awareness
YANA and their support, I have pretty much got my head around it. But every now and again it comes crashing back through the door.”
Giving back
The fundraising Naked Farm- er Cricket Day for YANA takes place on 22 June at Brisley Crick- et Club, near Dereham. “It is a wonderful way of giving some- thing back – they are still pro- viding free confidential support and counselling to us both.” The cricket day is named af-
ter the Australian Naked Farm- er Facebook page, where Mr Joice first shared his story. It encour- ages farmers to post naked pic- tures of themselves and discuss their problems because “it takes guts to take your clothes off and guts to talk about mental health”. To make a donation for the
cricket day, visit
www.bit.ly/ YANAcricketday. If you are in- terested in sponsoring the event, email
patrick@uphouse.co.uk.
Final preparations for Open Farm Sunday
More than 350 farms will give the public a first-hand insight into farming when they open their gates for Open Farm Sunday on 9 June. Farms across all enterprise types will welcome thousands of visitors. Growers and livestock producers will share their stories with consumers – building support
6 ANGLIA FARMER • JUNE 2019
for the British farming industry by showing people where their food comes from and how it is produced. LEAF Open Farm Sunday manager Annabel Shackleton said: “It’s the perfect time for farm- ers to strengthen the connection with their customers when the in- dustry is being challenged by poli- cy changes, dietary trends and, po-
tentially, of cheap foreign imports.” The annual event is organised
by the Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF) charity. Of 362 farms which hosted a LEAF Open Farm Sunday event last year, 26% did so for the first time – the high- est number to date. For details, visit
www.farmsun-
day.org WHAT’S ON
Forthcoming farm-related events happening throughout the region and beyond
2 June Cambridgeshire County Show Wimpole, SG8 0BW
www.cambscountyshow.co.uk
9 June Open Farm Sunday
www.farmsunday.org
10 June (midnight) Deadline for late applications and late amendments with penalties to 2019 Basic Payment Scheme applications
12-13 June Cereals 2019 Boothby Graffoe, Lincolnshire
www.cerealsevent.co.uk
19 June The Arable Event Weston-under-Lizard
www.thearableevent.co.uk
19-20 June Lincolnshire Show Lincoln
www.lincolnshireshow.co.uk
26-27 June Groundswell Event Weston, Hertfordshire
www.groundswellag.com
26-27 June Royal Norfolk Show Norwich
www.royalnorfolkshow.rnaa.
org.uk
13 July 2019 Tendring Show Lawford, nr Manningtree, Essex
www.tendringshow.co.uk
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