BOFF is a not-for-profit enterprise. It is a commercial event though, and when everything goes to plan, we do make more money that we spend. Each year we keep back enough to fund the following year’s event and anything else is given to good causes. Last year we were able to give £4287 to the Motor Neurone Disease Association; £500 to the Friends of Olney Library; and £1000 to the Olney Ukraine Fund. Some of this is from event surplus and some from our charity raffle.

This year’s beneficiary will be Young Minds. They are the UK’s leading charity fighting for children and young people’s mental health. The statistics are horrifying: suicide was the leading cause of death for males and females aged between five to 34 in 2019; one in six children aged five to 16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2021 – that’s an increase from one in 9 before the pandemic. Young Minds want to see a world where no young person feels alone with their mental health, and all young people get the mental health support they need, when they need it, no matter what.