Happy New Year! We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and healthy year ahead. It’s shaping up to be a busy year for Clockwork, as we look to move into our new home, start offering counselling sessions and organise some great fundraising events.

What We’re Up To

We are pleased to report that we have been granted planning permission to make the necessary amends to the (soon-to-be!) Clockwork HQ Space, above Idol Hands Music & Design Shop on Station Road West. The work required will include building an exterior staircase, to provide a separate entrance to the building, exclusively for the use of visitors to Clockwork; tidying, cleaning and decorating the space; and, crucially, installing a toilet! Our hope is that work will start in the spring, and that we will be able to open our doors to visitors later in the year.

While building work is ongoing we are investigating other locations from which we could offer counselling sessions for young people, and have made some very encouraging progress. While we are not able to confirm details on anything just yet, this is something we hope to be able to update everyone on in the next few weeks, so please do keep your eyes peeled. 

We are also, concurrently, preparing our application to the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), to become an accredited member. We feel this is a necessary step for Clockwork, as part of our commitment to carrying out best practise when it comes to employing counsellors and offering counselling services, with the safety and wellbeing of anyone who uses a service provided by Clockwork at the forefront of our minds.  

Furthermore, we continue to fund an additional day of counselling, provided by Relate, for students of Oxted School. If students of Oxted School wish to register for counselling sessions, then please contact Paula Waller, Charlie O’Sullivan or Amy Dove at the school.

In addition to this, we are working with Paula Waller and Amy Dove at Oxted School, along with Head Girl Anna Rastelli, to arrange a session for 6th form students on exam success and reducing stress. This will take place later this term. We hope that these Clockwork sessions may become a regular feature in the future.

In October, there was an amazing turn-out for the first ever Clockwork Open Mic event, held in memory of Billy Plowman, and to celebrate his twenty-first birthday. So many people attended, performed and donated, including many of Billy’s family and friends. A raffle on the night, organised by Billy’s family, raised over £1,000. Our love and thanks to Kelly, Phil, Alexia and everyone else who was part of a very special evening. 

Ever since, we’ve been asked regularly when the next Clockwork Open Mic will be, and we are pleased to report that it will be returning on Sunday 8th March from 4.30pm to 7.30pm, with the Master Park Pavilion once again hosting proceedings. We ran out of time for everyone who wanted to perform back in October, so we recommend arriving and playing early, so that we can get as many people up as possible. 

Behind the scenes we are working on a Clockwork fundraising event for later in the year and, for this, we are hoping to put together an auction of donated items. We would be especially interested in any signed music memorabilia. Please do get in touch with us if you have something you would be willing to donate, or even just an idea for an auction item. 

Fundraising & Thanks 

Last June, the third Holland Sports Music & Beer Festival took place and was, as per usual, a great success. The festival is volunteer-organised and run, with proceeds going to charitable and community causes. We were very grateful to be a nominated charity for several of the acts playing at the festival, and were delighted to receive a cheque for over £3,000 from the Holland Sports team. Thank you to everyone involved with a wonderful community event and for your continued support of Clockwork.  

A couple of months later, in August, Kenfest returned for its fourth year. This unique grass-roots festival is the creation of Sandy Kenny, and takes place each year in the back garden of his family’s home in Oxted. It is an incredible event, and we are honoured that Sandy has chosen to use the money raised from the festival to support Clockwork over the last three years. We have also been fortunate enough to be able to be part of the festival itself, helping scan ticket-holders in and equip them with the correct wristband. It’s a wonderful day to share in, and we hope we can continue to be a small part of the Kenfest experience in 2020. 

Thanks to Sandy and his organising team putting on the biggest and best Kenfest yet, an incredible £4,632 was donated to Clockwork from the proceeds of the 2019 festival. This brings the total amount that Kenfest has raised for Clockwork over the last three years to over £9,000. Words cannot really do enough to express our gratitude. Thank you so much to Sandy and all involved with Kenfest. We love you guys! 

In December, we were very pleased to participate in the Christmas Tree Festival at Oxted United Reformed Church. The Clockwork tree was just one of dozens of beautiful trees arranged and decorated by local groups and causes, and thank you to everyone who popped something in the Clockwork collection box.  

And our continued, heartfelt thanks to George Trapp and his team for sourcing, arranging and delivering Christmas trees to lots of happy customers, while raising over £1,400 for Clockwork! 

Our thanks to everyone who has so generously raised money on behalf of Clockwork in the last few months: Steve Bedford, Tom Lee, The First Tuesday Club; residents of Johnsdale and Gordon’s Way; Homcroft Wealth; Ravery’s Hair and Beauty Salon; the congregation of St John’s Church, Hurst Green; Oxted United Reformed Church; The Doughty Family; John Nolan; The Limpsfield & Oxted Horticultural Society; Farleigh Parish Council; everyone who donated to and/or bought a ticket for the raffle at the Randy & The Rockets’ Christmas Parties. Plus, a special mention to Wendy Starling, Andrea Micklemore, Debbie Lilly-White, Carol Scott and Helen Randall, who took on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge last year, and raised over £1,000 for Clockwork. Our thanks to anyone who donated via any of these lovely people, or made their own contribution directly, we deeply appreciate your support.

If you’re out and about in Oxted over the next few weeks, there are a few ways you can support Clockwork. The Ginistry are taking donations for Clockwork for any empty gin bottles they sell, and also have a collection box at the bar. In the last two months over £200 has been donated, so huge thanks to The Ginistry Team and its customers! Clockwork are also currently one of the chosen charities in Waitrose that shoppers can support; and we are one of the charities that has been selected for the SES Water Local Community Scheme, housed at Robertson’s Coffee Shop.  So, if you happen to be in Waitrose or Robertson’s, we hope you’ll put a token in the Clockwork box! 

And, finally, Clockwork is now a registered good cause with the Tandridge Together Lottery, meaning that when you play you could be donating to us! It’s very quick and easy to sign up (at tandridgelottery.co.uk).  Each ticket costs £1 per week, with a maximum weekly prize of £25,000. For each ticket sold, 50p goes to your chosen good cause, and an extra 10p to other good causes in the community. 

Let us just close by saying that we are so grateful to everyone who has contributed to the Clockwork cause, be that through donations, fundraising or just helping spread the word. We are very lucky to be in a community that is so keen to help and is so proactive in their support. We hope that later in the year to have a welcome evening at the new Clockwork space, to show everyone what your support has led to.

For the latest on what we’re up to, give us a follow on Facebook @clockworkcharity and Instagram @clockworkoxted. And you can always get in touch with us via email enquiries@clockwork.org.uk.