Oxjam Event at The Regal - 9th April 2008

How it all began

I organised this event alongside Louise. We both work for Oxfam, I am the administrator of the legal team and Louise is the administrator to the UK finance team. We both decided to primarily organise the event to get the employees of Oxfam socialising together outside of work. The event took a long while to organise as we initially planned to hold it at Oxfam House, but found it would cost us more money than holding it elsewhere. Also, we had to consider the impact it would have on the staff of Oxfam who work late hours! Especially since Oxjam was just about to start we thought it’d be a brilliant idea to organise one of our own.

 

 The Planning

After, hearing the news that The Regal was undergoing renovation we arranged to meet with the owners and were able to negotiate how we would receive the money as a donation to Oxfam. They let us have the venue free of charge, we took all the ticket money and money from any tickets sold on the door, along with the money from the cloakroom! The huge room at the back of the building was still undergoing building work so we were unable to use it. So we had the front room and the room upstairs. The rooms were fairly small, but due to the day it was being held on we didn’t expect such a big crowd.

In terms of organising the music, Louise contacted the Oxford University Big Band and arranged for them to play at the event (also, for free!). I organised the DJ (DJ Gurpreet Singh) who came over from London for the evening, he specialised in Asian music (Bhangra and Bollywood). To get an Asian DJ to play at the event was a huge struggle, as most people thought there should not be an Asian DJ. I strongly disagreed with this idea since Oxfam helps to overcome poverty and suffering in Asia in a huge way. I thought I’d get encouragement but I didn’t, all I got was discouragement! I just hope that in the future such ideas are welcomed and encouraged. From going through the Oxjam events listings for 2008, it was evident that this is the only (or one of very very few) Oxjam gigs which contains a cultural element. This made me more eager to include such Asian influenced music into the event. We asked John French to design us some posters, which he did a great job on and these went to print and I organised for some friends to put posters up and hand out flyers at the Brookes campus.

The 2 weeks after the venue and music had been arranged flew by and tickets sales were very bad! I was worried that not many people would come and that we would not raise any money for Oxfam. I seeked advice from the Oxjam team who suggested we try selling tickets online, so I arranged this and within 2 weeks only 1 ticket had been sold. We also requested the Oxfam shops in Oxford to sell tickets for us and they were also unsuccessful! In the last 3 days leading up to the event, there was a mad rush in ticket sales, online and at Oxfam House. We did a lot of walking around Oxfam House bugging people to dig into their pockets and buy a ticket!

 

On the Night

 After a mad rush to get ready and trying to get all my friends who had arrived for the event, into cars we managed to arrive at The Regal just about in time! On my arrival I noticed there were no lights as there had just been a power cut and it was 7.30pm (when the doors were to open!). We had a few guests arrive, and we had to make them wait downstairs and assure them that the problem would be sorted out in due course. Some people brought tickets and went to sit across the road in the pub! When we finally got the power back at around 7.50pm, there was a mad rush to get the band going. I was about to relax at that point and then I realised that no music could be heard in the downstairs room. After much debate with the owners, they were unable to rectify this problem! This did cause some problems in that guests entering through the main entrance downstairs could not get a feel for the music, so it was rather quiet! The bigger problem was that I had envisioned didn’t happen as a direct result of the power cut. Since the room upstairs was quite small, I envisioned that the crowd would be able to spill out into the room downstairs to avoid everyone being squeezed into one room. And this is what didn’t happen! Everyone was upstairs as no music could be heard downstairs. But It was a problem that I could not have catered for and was out of my hands i guess! The guests started pouring in by 9pm and lots of people turned up to buy tickets on the door, which was great! I had also enlisted my friends as volunteers who worked on the doors for me, collecting money. And we had some volunteers from Oxfam House who worked on the cloakroom and others who asked for donations by shaking buckets and we offered guests a band or an Oxjam badge for a small donation to Oxfam!

We also had some interest from BBC Oxford, who came along to film parts of the event and talk to the Big Band. They also interviewed us which was slightly nerve-raking, but we felt so proud after all the hard work we had both put into to making the event work that even the BBC had wanted to know about it! After the interview I just enjoyed the night, talking and catching up with friends. The Big band then packed up and DJ Gurpreet Singh provided a great mix of Western and Eastern sounds. And the atmosphere was very lively at this stage! We were supposed to stop the music by 11.30pm but we eventually stopped an hour later at 00.30am.

The Results

The next day I went to the Oxfam Shops and collected the ticket money and then sat down to count all the money. I was in and out of the bank depositing money for most of the afternoon! Our grand total came to £731.98!!! Which I was over the moon about as I didn’t think we would even make half that amount, but it did turn out to be a huge success! Despite the stress of planning it, it was so much fun and completely worth everything! And I would definitely do it again! And I am so thankful to everyone who helped in every and any way, it is all very much appreciated!

Please visit this link to watch my interview with BBC Oxford!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/media/avdb/regions/oxfordshire/video/165000/165281?size=16×9&news=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&bgc=6699CC&lang=en

 

Charity Shop Rock - Kingsthorpe Oxfam Shop

For the week of the 11th April I helped volunteer in Northampton’s Oxfam shop (Kingsthorpe to be exact), hometown of my student days. Vimal, the shop manager, had planned a full week and made sure I got to see every aspect of the shop, from pricing up records to security and till work.

> Oxfam Shop, Northampton - Izzy, Ron, Me, Brenda & Vimal

 

During the week Vicky Hughes and her friends, 5 local marketing students, popped in to the shop to redecorate the window and help promote their Oxjam event at the Picturedrome. The transformation was fantastic with keyboards, guitars, bright clothes, 60’s vases and even a vintage singer sewing machine (hand polished by myself!) all embellished with Oxjam posters, badges and decals, it soon became a talking point for customers and passers by. So much so, the vases sewing machine and guitars got snapped within a day so we had to improvise with other stock.

> Vicky Hughes decorating the Oxfam shop in Kingsthorpe, Northampton

 

Vimal had been at the heart of Oxjam in Northampton last year and so was able to advise the students on how to promote the event and make the night extra special. ‘Charity Shop Rock’ was the name of the event and all the hard work paid off well. Over 200 people turned up on and the quintet managed to make a fantastic £728 for Oxjam through ticket sales / merchandise and a charity shop raffle.

> Dancers dressed in Oxfam charity shop clothes (the dress code for the night)

 

 

 

 

 

Krezel, Hywel Williams on the Oxjam stall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 > Charity Shop Rock at the Picturedrome

 

> Monica Krezel, Jenny Baraczewski, Vicky Hughes, Helen Brown, Laura Williams giving a speech on the night.

 

So any advice to would be Oxjammers from Vicky?

“Do it! My advice would be that planning your time is absolutely crucial to getting successful publicity, but all the effort is well worth it. I did a radio interview for the first time which turned out to be really easy. I just took a few notes with me and it was just like chatting to someone in a pub, I wasn’t nervous at all. I’ll definitely do an Oxjam event again I’ve had an amazing time!”

 
Mike Bingham-Oxjam Team

 

P.S. more photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/yampee/CharityShopRock

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeandmaria/sets/72157600133703665/

Gig at the Headingley (Leeds) Bookshop

“As long as you know that we’re here and we’ll do what we can.” Such was the touchingly genuine support of AloneMe for all things Oxjam.

 

I’ve managed to grab them for a coffee after their latest Oxfam shop mini-gig. Headed up by David Booth who speaks warmly of his previous Oxfam experiences as Deputy Manager of a Bookshop in Chelmsford, the band were keen to make instore appearances as part of their UK tour. “Oxjam happening in April was a happy coincidence,” says Sarah Springett, one half of AloneMe’s charismatic vocals. “We were out on tour anyway and had this free time in the daytimes. It seemed silly not to use the time to support Oxjam.”

 

Arriving in the shop this afternoon I was greeted by a beaming Gill Andrews at the till, a regular volunteer at the shop. She pointed me in the direction of a tiny back room where the four band members – drummer Simon Edgoose, vocalist Sarah Springett, piano player Liz Townsend and singer-guitarist David Booth – were huddled, enjoying boxes of noodles from the takeaway next door before their set. They jumped up to greet me and offer me a seat (or, more accurately, box), and Viktor, the shop’s very charming manager, appeared offering teas and coffees. I had to wonder why, after so many experiences, I’m still surprised how many lovely people you encounter through Oxjam!

 

After taking 5 minutes to browse the bookshelves, the band grabbed a guitar and a tambourine and the shop’s library-like quiet burst into foot-tapping, smile-inducing song. Unforewarned, you couldn’t help but giggle at the ultra-British reaction of a man browsing a shelf that had, he suddenly noticed, now become ‘on-stage’ territory. He put commendable effort into pretending not to notice for an appropriate amount of time, before retreating to less interesting shelves at the back of the shop. It was a slightly surreal experience, tapping my boots to the rhythms of AloneMe’s melodic acoustic set against a backdrop of books, but it was a top afternoon!

 

 

Liz pours me a cup of tea, after my attempts result in a pool of tea on the table, and the band tell me about their gig in the Coventry shop.

“There was a great feel. All the volunteers were really up for it and there was a real ‘yeah let’s do it!’ vibe.”

They also explain a little bit about their motivations. “It’s about doing something different,” says David of including the shops on their tour, “we wanted to raise awareness.”

“It can be a really good publicity opportunity for bands as well,” Sarah explains. “Before we knew noone in Coventry. Now we know if we play a gig there there’ll be people there.”

 

It’s been a great day out in Leeds! And with any luck I’ll be back for more Oxjam gigs soon…

Jam4Oxjam - Belham, 05/04/2008

Hot venue, Bar Lemiere hosted Balham’s very own Jam4Oxjam.  The funky decorations and Oxfam visuals made this super cool Oxjam gig unique in its attention to detail. In full Oxjam spirit, discounted entry was given to those who arrived wearing the ‘Oxjam colours.’ With a great party vibe that kept the crowd dancing, dj’s Liam and Dion showed off their skills on the decks with music swiftly switching between rnb, hip hop and electro. Face painting and body art raised a few more pennies for Oxfam and kept those not busting out moves on the dance floor entertained. Full credit and a huge thank you must be given to event organisers Bel and Susanne who pulled out all the stops to make this Oxjam event one to remember. With a packed out venue and raising over £600 for Oxfam the night was a huge success. The girls are hoping to get a monthly slot at Bar Lemiere to continue hosting

 music nights to raise money for charity…We’ll keep our fingers crossed!

 

‘To help those people that don’t have what you have is always a good thing to do’

 (Susanne, 21)

Oxjam Glasgow

Oxjam kicks off today!  I hadn’t expected to be saying that for quite a while, and can hardly believe it has come round again so quickly.  I am very pleased that we have about 50 volunteers signed up to put on events in Glasgow despite the very short lead up time.  We don’t have 50 gigs up yet but hopefully they will appear very soon.  I am hoping the website will be inundated with gigs before the month is up as we have quite a lot to live up to in Glasgow.  We made a whopping amount of money in October, apparently more than any other city including London, so I would love for Glasgow to do that again!  I am also really looking forward to the weekend in Oxford in May when we can make big plans for the next Oxjam and catch up with all of the wonderful Regional Coordinators around the country and the amazing Oxjam Team.  If you want to see what gigs are happening in Glasgow this April have a look at www.oxfam.org.uk/oxjam or www.myspace.com/glasgow_oxjam and then come along to them and have a whale of a time!  I love Oxjam…

Katey Justice

RC - Glasgow

Ed’s top pick of upcoming events

Edmund McGregor/Trading/Oxfam
08/04/2008 16:02
Size :23 Kb
 
 To
 Oxjam team
 cc
 
 Subject
 some great new events on website
 
 
 
 

I was just authorising the Oxjam events and found these new beauties up there that you might like to see.

Bagsy I go to all of these : )

Lisa Lashes
Dance, Techno
www.djlisalashes.com
Badlands
Dance, Techno
www.myspace.com/badlandsspace
Canine Sounds
Dance, Techno
www.caninesounds.co.uk
Beat Repeaters
Dance, Techno
www.myspace.com/beatrepeaters
Type of event:
Club night
Music event description:
A host of supreme house and breaks DJs coming together from all across the country to do what they do best, all for charity! Expect an exciting electro/breaks set from the internationally renowned Lisa Lashes, house beats from Canine Sounds, dirty basslines from Badlands (both very kindly on loan from London’s top Chew the Fat! clubnight) and top quality breaks from Nottingham’s very own Beat Repeaters. Tickets are only £4 advance, £5 on the door. On sale next week from: Oxfam shops in the city, Dogma and http://lolpug.express.ts.com/

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The I Fight Bears Charity Gigathon
2.00pm, 26th April 2008
Gig - Acoustic
Scotland DD1 5EG
>link to Google Maps
I Fight Bears
Acoustic
www.myspace.com/rockcasualty

Type of event:
Gig
Music event description:
How many gigs can we do in one day? 5? 10? 20? Let’s find out! I Fight Bears will be taking part in a 1 day tour of Dundee venues. Oxfam merchandise will be available at all locations, and needless to say all profit goes to the lovely people at Oxjam!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Event name:
Jam Overboard

  
Performers
James Yuill
Folk, Electronica
www.myspace.com/jamesyuill
Kat Flint
Acoustic, Folk
www.myspace.com/katflint

Type of event:
Gig
Music event description:
Ahoy there! Jam, boats, great music and silliness… That’s right it’s JAM OVERBOARD time!!! It’s £6 to get in - turn up early to make sure you get your free scone with jam and cream! Stop the needless sacrifice of strawberries and come and have it large on the charity boogie barge. Splash out and keep the cash flowing, rock the boat and keep the cup of kindness afloat! There’ll be some great live acts and DJs, dancing, games, pinatas, drinks and good times - and all taking place on a big old BARGE! Provisional acts: Live music from electro/folk genius James Yuill, acoustic folk from melodic, beautiful and quirky Kat Flint, then DJs spinning out electro, dance, pop and hip hop - anything to get you dancing! See you there my jammy lovelies! Xxx
Picture:

Venue:
Battersea Barge
Venue URL:
www.batterseabarge.com
Town/City:
London
_____________________________________________________________________

oh, and I also came accross this amazing event that happened last year.

Great night of wiggling and Arabic music. Currently working on arranging some more events for April. There was a representative from Swindon Web on hand with a camcorder and posted photos and footage at: http://www.swindonweb.co.uk/event/?m=611&s=622&ss=0&c=2475&t=Belly%20dancing

How did it happen?

It’s certainly been a whirlwind at Oxjam HQ since the beginning of February, when the decision was made to move Oxjam to April. I can’t believe it’s possible for a group of people to actually sustain any kind of sense of humour with so much happening, but somehow the team are still all warm smiles and easy-going friendliness (and I think I’m still my usual chirpy-if-a-bit-peculiar self too, though perhaps a little worn around the edges). But maybe the pressure – that growing “help-where’s-my-life/work-balance!?” sensation – helps to explain what we’ll be doing tomorrow. Goodness knows we need some kind of excuse for it.

I’m not sure how tomorrow started! I remember a meeting a few weeks ago. Alicia suggested someone took the lead on getting something small happening at the office. Just a tiny stunt to mark the launch. A micro-event. Something to celebrate the amazing things happening around the country. I volunteered. Surely, nothing to panic about… So why am I sitting here at midnight worrying about whether we have enough waxing strips and pondering what we will do with the beard remnants?!?

We had wanted to do something a little bit musical. It is Oxjam, after all. But the noise regulations are fairly tight in an office from which people might be making calls to pretty much anywhere in the world on phone lines that don’t offer much sympathy to office singing shenanigans. So, when we were talking after the meeting about some of the brilliant fundraising ideas Oxjam Event Organisers around the country have come up with, we couldn’t help but wonder if quirky, non-musical fundraising might be worked into the plans.  

 

About 15 minutes later, we were dead set on people losing their hair! It was like an auction gone wrong. Saan’s head was put forward for shaving, to a reaction of classic “yeah no worries” shoulder-shrugging from Saan himself. Mike’s beard was volunteered, though with a warning that it may take us the best part of the afternoon to remove it. Ed passionately declined and has since been rather carefully evading the suggestion that his beard be donated to the cause. And then somehow, and no one quite remembers how, it was agreed that Benny’s legs will be waxed – ankle to knee, both legs, every last hair – if we can raise £300!

As I write on Monday night, £175 has been pledged on the website. If you happen to read this before 1.30pm on 1^st April, have a look at www.justgiving.com/oxjam_waxjam to see how we’re doing and help us out if you can (donations accepted on the page until 27^th April). If you’re reading this later on, you’ll be able to enjoy the pictures (if ‘enjoy’ is the right word!), which I’ll put up as soon as I can. So we’re all geared up for the shave-and-wax-athon (‘Waxjam’, if you will). This team tomorrow, the lads will be sporting a bit of a different look. I’m off to find my camera – watch this space!

P.S. Ladies, you know that post-wax feeling when you just can’t help but keep giving your perfectly smooth pins a stroke? I wonder if that’s just a girl thing. Will keep you posted

Oxjam in Cardiff

Liz lets us know what’s happening in Cardiff:

“So, the launch of Oxjam 2008 is here! It’s been a real whirlwind ride preparing to start the festival again, but I’m really pleased that we’ve got 14 event organisers registered already here in Cardiff, and some fantastic-sounding Welsh Oxjam events uploaded to the website.

One event I’m really looking forward to is the Oxjam Weekender in Llandrindod Wells. It’s going to be a three-day event taking place over the weekend of the 25th-27th April, featuring lots of brilliant local bands and artists. It kicks off with an indie night on the Friday, Saturday’s an acoustic night, and the event will close with a choral performance on the Sunday night. It’s going to be really good fun to go along to an Oxjam event that’s so varied in musical styles, and it’s great to see so many bands and artists coming together to take part in the festival here in Wales. This is just one example of the ace Oxjam line-up in Wales, so search the listings and there’ll be something for you!”

Celebs say do Oxjam!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBRbt5maLaY

My First 2 days in the Oxjam Team

I’ve only been here two days and my head is full to bursting!! I’m a new intern in the Oxjam team and these first few days have been great fun + I’ve already learnt a tonne. Since going to university and getting involved in charity fundraising I’ve wanted to work in this area. Therefore when I saw the opportunity for an internship with Oxfam on their website I jumped at the chance. I’m from Oxford and so Oxfam’s always been one of the main charities that I support, and what I love about Oxjam is that it’s a charity event which spans the whole country and involves so many different communities. Anyone and everyone can put on a music event and raise money for Oxfam and the Oxjam team’s job is to help and support you guys put on these events.

My first impression of Oxfam’s main office was of a place with a buzz of energy. I had a tour of the building and everywhere I went there was someone to explain and give me yet more interesting information about what their department does. There is such a diverse range of departments: ranging from Media to Fundraising to Publishing and it’s going to be interesting finding out how they all fit together to make Oxfam a successful charity.

 

The team I work with here are very approachable and we’ve already had two team lunches and two meetings, which is great as I feel accepted into the group. It’s a fun crowd of people and everyone has a silly side. This side of people’s personalities was clearly visible as we planned an event to get everyone in Oxfam raise money for Oxjam. At this meeting ideas progressed from ‘guess the number of badges in the pot’, to karaoke and then to the idea of waxing the legs of the manager of Oxjam!! That will be fun to see…

My job is to keep track of the social networking sites and I’ve started to learn the language of html. However the first language I’ve had to get my head around was all of the acronyms they use here. At first I was baffled by the conversations they had:
“ There have been 20 MEO’s registered today” “Have you done your IS and VDU inductions yet”. I am now a bit better at the jargon and the conversations are now making sense!

My job also involves being in contact with lots of the people who are organising events for April and I’ve been more and more impressed with what’s going on in the UK. In fact it’s made me want to take holiday for the whole of April and do a tour of all of these events

It’s been a fun two days and I’m looking forward to the next 6 months. The only thing bad thing that I’ve got to get used to is waking up early in the morning. On my second day I came into work wearing two different earrings, due to my sleepy state that morning, and I didn’t notice until 4 O’clock. I’m not sure whether no one noticed or whether they were just too nice to say anything!! Perhaps I’ll find out later when I know them all better.

Tessa
New Oxjam Intern