A TEAM of seven bank workers in Haywards Heath peddled their way to raising almost £500 for mental health charity Mental Health UK as part of their company’s commitment to good causes.

Lloyds Banking Group staff - led by Victoria McHugh, a manager from the bank’s baking operations change team based in Perrymount Road - took part in a seven hour continuous static bike challenge.

Held at the bank’s South Road branch, staff including Victoria, Louise Howard, Abigail Hyde, Mark Sussex, Paul Archer, Sandra Holman and Marzena Kmiotek completed the challenge.

Colleagues Linda Parsons and Joe Turpin-Antonio were on hand with collection buckets and ready to collect donations from customers visiting the branch.

Victoria who has also recently taken part in the gruelling London and Paris Marathons for charity, said: “It was great to be a part of the community and helping a great charity that helps so many people with mental health problems.”

Mental Health UK is a collaborative network of four charities – Rethink Mental Illness, in England, Hafal, in Wales, Mindwise, in Northern Ireland and Support in Mind, in Scotland.

She said: “Mental health is a silent killer and we need to raise awareness and help those in need. I am proud to work for Lloyds – who genuinely care about the community.

“Thank you to all those who donated and contributed.”

Lloyds Banking Group is supporting Mental Health UK in a two-year partnership to create a pioneering Mental Health and Money Advice Service and to raise a target of £2 million.

The partnership will promote awareness of the link between mental health and money problems, and encourage discussion between customers and colleagues around this issue.

In addition the group has committed to raise money in offices and branches across the UK as part of Lloyds Banking Group’s wider ambition to ‘help Britain prosper through tackling social and economic issues’.

The charity says: “While we recognise the cost of mental ill-health is not merely a financial issue, calculating the costs of mental health problems can be persuasive when making the case for investment in preventing them.

“Mental health problems are all too common in the workplace and it is the leading cause of sickness absence.

“A staggering 70 million work days are lost each year due to mental health problems in the UK, costing employers approximately £2.4 billion per year.

“ The value added by people with mental health problems in the workforce is greater than the costs arising.

“Improving and protecting mental health secures that value and should help reduce cost.

“Work is a key factor in supporting and protecting mental health.

“The workplace mental health and wellbeing survey identified that 86% of all respondents believed that their job and being at work was important to protecting and maintaining their mental health.”