I know we cheated by starting a little bit before October had got underway, but there was no doubt that our first Oxjam gig in the Man of Kent in Rochester had a big impact, succeeded in raising awareness about the festival, was thoroughly enjoyed by all those who attended and raised more than £400 for Oxjam.
Massive thanks to everyone involved in organising the event, especially Stuart Turner who allowed us to hijack one of his gigs and did a brilliant job of keeping the whole thing running smoothly as well as performing.
We also had acoustic sets from local acts The Long Weekend, The Deccas and The Bresslaws.
All of our performers had made a really big effort just for the night, rearranging their songs to fit the more stripped-down acoustic setup, practising cover versions and thoroughly joining in with the spirit of Oxjam.
But most impressive of all was the atmosphere generated by the regulars at The Man of Kent and those who had turned up just to support Oxjam. No matter how many times we went round with the collecting tins, no one complained about handing over even more of their spare change and everyone and everywhere possible was covered in Oxjam badges by the end of the night.
We reckon this was the first Oxjam event in Rochester this year and we’re extremely confident it is the only one so far to feature a guest hurdy gurdy player. Please feel free to correct me here.
At the end of the evening we were given a donation of £100 from the bar takings and the fees for all the performers went into the pot along with extremely generous donations from the punters. It was a fabulous start to Oxjam in the Medway Towns and has left everyone involved feeling overwhelmed by the way that so many people freely gave of their time and cash to make it such a great evening and excited about the rest of the Oxjam events coming up in October.
