THE community spirit of the Elder Stubbs festival was a reminder of how important friendship and the outdoors can be to those suffering from mental illness.

Too often we think of mental health problems as something that can only be tackled with medication, or worse, something best forgotten about.

But dozens of volunteers from mental health charity Restore, along with people who have used its services, showed on Saturday how a different approach is possible. More schemes like this would be a great boost to people in our city tackling the challenges of mental illness.