Oxjam regional co-ordinators review We invited all of our Oxjam regional Co-ordinators down to Oxford to report back on what had happened this year and how they would like Oxjam to take shape in 2008.These sessions always play a pivotal part in shaping the festival, as the Regional Co-ordinators are the people who actually make Oxjam happen.17 Regional co-ordinators made it down for the weekend, but the rest of the team was with us in spirit! Friday nightWe met in the porter’s lodge of St Anne’s College (where the residential review weekend was being held).We huddled in here out of the cold until it was time to make the walk up to Summertown to the Spice Lunge for a celebratory curry (complete with Christmas crackers!). Amid the bad joke telling and paper Christmas hat wearing we managed to have a good catch up on how everyone had found Oxjam this year. Then on into town via Broadstreet’s remarkable (??) White Night  light display and to the Kings arms for a few drinks before bedtime..there was a long day of talking ahead of us! SaturdayImpressively there were not too many hangovers as everyone was up at breakfast before 9.30. We began the day at 10.00 by asking a few of the Regional Co-ordinators to do short presentations on their Oxjam experiences. This sparked off a group discussion where we tried to draw up a list of Do’s and Don’ts for Regional Co-ordinators next year.At 12.00 Benny, Oxfam’s project manager, gave a short presentation on what had happened nationally with highlight figures on numbers of events, money raised etc.Unfortunately it was too cold to go outside to bask in the sun at lunchtime as we have done on previous training weekends, but we had a good big lounge area to relax in for lunch (unfortunately there was no log fire or mulled wine though - note for next year)Onto the big bit of the day. We asked the 17 people in attendance to split into two separate groups to discuss how they want Oxjam to change for 2008 - prompted by a series of headline topics (marketing, working with shops, working with volunteers, etc). This was an incredibly productive session as the groups came together to feedback on their findings while we took frantically scribed notes on all their pearls of wisdom.Gareth Simpson (Head of Events and Community Fundraising) then came in to talk to us about Oxfam’s work and gave an inspiring thank you to the group - demonstrating where the money raised from Oxjam could be spent.Finally we gave the co-ordinators a massive thank you from the team and gave everyone an exclusive limited edition Oxjam mug filled to the brim with sweets…a tiny token of our appreciation.Onto a final celebratory Lebanese Dinner in Jericho. Lots of food, lots of drink and lots of memories shared. The evening moved onto a series of pubs and clubs. The less of which is documented here the better. Sunday

A pivotal day for us. Energy was running low in the group after a late night. We were asking everyone to focus in and really make a plan for Oxjam in 2008. We did this by concentrating on the three main areas of work that we think are going to make Oxjam raise more money and include more events and asked the group to develop some thoughts and action points around these. I was gobsmacked at the quality of material that we got back from this session despite the hangovers. Now that we have the feedback from the people who actually made Oxjam happen in 2007, we have a fantastic starting point for making plans for next year. Everyone left after lunch and hugs from the team. It’s been amazing working with such an inspiring group of people this year. I’m looking forward to organising the re-union already!

If you are interested in how to get involved with Oxjam please visit www.oxfam.org.uk/oxjam  or call 01865472369