A FREE day full of music and activities is coming to Braintree town centre to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week.

Braintree Rethink Self-Help Art and Social Group will host the event on May 18 at the bandstand in George Yard Shopping Centre from 10am to 6pm.

Throughout the day there will be live music, free cakes, entertainment, an art exhibition, face painting, stalls, a raffle and more.

Acts on the line-up include Double Trouble, The Rethinkers, Champs Band, One Mel of a Voice and Brad Sadler.

Braintree and Witham Times: Information - a poster for the eventInformation - a poster for the event (Image: Braintree Rethink Self-Help Art & Social Group)

The group is part of national charity Rethink Mental Illness, an organisation dedicated to supporting people with mental health issues and those who care for them.

The Braintree group is run by coordinator Trina Whittaker.

It has been active since 2008 and gives people with mental illness the chance to get together to write, paint and draw.

It runs every Tuesday at Braintree and Bocking Community Centre, in Bocking End, from 1pm to 4pm.

Mental health Awareness Week will take place from May 13-19, and is run by the Mental Health Foundation.