Lord Mayors get to choose a charity for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal. The chosen charity is supported on a ‘transformational project’ for three years; thus three are being supported at any one time. The Lord Mayor’s Appeal helps deserving causes across the capital and is generously supported by the City of London’s livery companies. The generosity of freemen and the livery companies, along with support from City A.M. and businesses for events like City Giving Day, provide the funding.

My choice for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal was the charity MQ Mental Health Research as one of our three chosen partner organisations. MQ’s founding supporter, the Wellcome Trust – based in London – is one of the world’s largest global health science foundations. Together, we approached mental health by putting science at its heart.