A GRIEVING family from Leafield have raised £20,000 for Oxfordshire Mind in memory of their beloved son.

Richard Dixon, his wife Jacqueline, their four children and other family members have organised a series of fundraising efforts for the mental health charity, after Mr Dixon’s stepson Zak Harper took his own life in September last year.

The fundraising campaign started as a JustGiving website and then developed into a village family day in Leafield, and then a big fundraising festival in the village called Ziggyfest, this May, two days after what would have been Zak’s 22nd birthday.

There have also been cake sales, charity fun runs, raffles and concerts.

Mr Dixon, 42, said: “I guess we started thinking about raising money in the days after his death.

“It was the need to give something back and help make others aware of the suffering he went through.”

On Monday, the family presented a cheque for £20,000 to Oxfordshire Mind’s chief executive Patrick Taylor.

Mr Dixon said: “It’s an amazing amount in nine months, people have been so generous.

“The money has been flowing in from everywhere, but we’re thinking big and if we can make more, the sky is the limit.”

Mr Dixon said he hoped raising money for Mind would help people with mental health issues realise there was somewhere to turn to for help.

He said: “In the period before he died, he did go to the doctor sometimes complaining of feeling down, but there was no indication that something like this would happen.

“I think he was suffering from depression. If we had known something like this was going to happen, we would have encouraged him far more to talk to people and get help.”

Mr Dixon paid tribute to his stepson, who he said was into rock music and motorbikes and had lots of friends who still visit the family home.

He said 600 people attended his funeral in October 2014.

Patrick Taylor, chief executive of Oxfordshire Mind, said: “This is one of the largest single amounts raised by an individual since the charity was founded in 1967.

“Richard, Jacqueline and their family and friends have been tireless in their work to celebrate Zak’s life, and to raise money for us. We’re incredibly grateful to them for all their hard work.”

Zak, a former pupil at Leafield School, worked at a metal sculpture firm at The Loft Gallery at Crown Farm in Ascott-Under-Wychwood.

He also enjoyed making sculptures in his own time.

Mr Dixon said Zak faced a “series of setbacks” in his teenage years including being rejected by the Army when he was 16 due to being diagnosed with a minor heart valve problem and splitting up with his girlfriend.

Oxfordshire Mind will be dedicating some of the money raised to artistic and craft activities in memory of Zak’s sculpture work.

* To donate to the family’s JustGiving campaign visit is justgiving.com/teams/ziggy