World Mental Health Day: Reasons to be cheerful

10th October is World Mental Health Day and was also the day of the Norfolk People's Assembly AGM, organised mainly by my friends and fellow activists Jan and Ellen. It was a wonderfully positive and inspirational event where we heard first hand about what people are doing in positive, practical ways to survive in these difficult times:

Jasmin and Sam came up from London to tell us about the FocusE15 Mothers and their fight for decent housing. You may have read about them in the press - they occupied some boarded up flats on the Carpenter's Estate next door to the Olympic Village. If you're anywhere near Stratford Broadway on a Saturday between 12 and 2 they have an information stand so why not swing by and say hello.

Chris is the campaigns officer at the UEA student union and he spoke about the threats to education from the government and the actions students can take, and what they have already taken.

Marina told us about the growth of solidarity networks in Greece and how people have come together to help each other survive. She spoke passionately about how people had been affected by the economic crash and about how important it is not to fight amongst ourselves simply because we may have different political allegiances.

A speaker from the floor told us about the work of Norwich Claimants Union which has recently been established and has already had some success in getting decisions on benefits sanctions overturned.

We heard a couple of songs from the lovely Matt Watson, local singer-songwriter, who we see in the photo.

And - not related to the Assembly AGM - the Norwich Dandies Artists Collective (of which I am a member) held an on-line launch of DandieFest - the movie. It's just five minutes of loveliness and includes a wonderful poem by my friend Vince called 'My Mental Helmet'.

The one reason not to be cheerful, though, was hearing the news that UKIP has opened an office in the centre of Norwich. Ironically in the same building as the Green Party.