“Fantastic” rave for popular Dereham man, Jordie Rae, takes family step closer to £10k fundraising target

Jordie Rae. Photo: The Rae family. (Image: Archant)

The community was shattered after 28-year-old Jordie Rae took his life in July of 2017.

But his family have chosen to honour his memory by raising £10,000 over five years for mental health charity MIND.

Jordie's father, George, said: 'On April 21 we held a rave in The Railway Tavern in Derehamn and it was absolutely top draw, it was fantastic.

'It's not really my sort of thing but Jordie loved jungle music and all that sort of thing, so we held a rave and the place was absolutely packed. I think the total for the evening was around £1,700.

Jordie Rae. Picture: The Rae family (Image: Archant)

'It was great to see all of Jordie's mates back down at the Tavern having a great night, Jordie would've loved it.'

Mr Rae, who is 61, continued: 'It's amazing how much the community has come together since this has happened. I think the town has lost a few younger people in recent months.

'It's fantastic to have so much support from places like the Railway Tavern, as well as the local community.

'Jordie's mum and I just want to do what we can to help people with mental health issues, because there's not enough support out there.

'Jordie himself didn't have mental health issues, but he was very angry. No one could've seen it coming, it came out of nowhere. We never want other parents to go through what we have, I can't even describe how we feel, it's still so raw.'

In just nine months, Mr Rae and has family have already raised over half of their target.

'We've already raised about £5,000 in just nine months which is amazing. And we've got so much else planned. We've got a charity walk coming up, my office held an event a fortnight ago and raised £600,' he added.

He said: 'In July it'll be a year on from Jordie's death, and we just want to help other people in any way we can to stop this happening again.'