As we come towards the end of a very challenging year, and navigate our way through Lockdown Part 2, we hope everyone is managing to find some positives to hold on to. It has not been the year we had wished for or expected, but hopefully better times lie ahead.

At Clockwork, we have been continuing to work hard to expand our counselling referral system, so we can have more young people in counselling at any one time. We are also continuing our work with Oxted School to offer mental health wellbeing seminars, run by Christine Moran of Mental Health First Aid England. A seminar was offered online for members of staff before term started, while a session for Year 13 students took place more recently. Feedback from both seminars was hugely positive, and we intend to offer seminars for other year groups in the coming months. 

We continue to be so touched by the amazing support we receive from the local community, and just wanted to express our gratitude to some of our donors.   

Oxted Classic Cars have been an ongoing supporter of Clockwork from soon after we were formed, making a donation for each hire fee they receive, and recently they have now passed the £2,000 mark on donations to Clockwork! We are extremely grateful for OCC’s continued support, and our heartfelt thanks to Jack and the team for all their efforts. 

Over the past year, Robertson’s Coffee Shop, one of Clockwork’s most long-standing supporters, has been home to a charity token box on behalf of SES Water. Customers at Robertson’s could choose to put a token in one of three boxes, each representing a local charity, with SES Water committed to making a donation to each charity consistent with the amount of tokens received. 

We were delighted to receive an email from SES Water last week with news that Clockwork will be receiving a donation of £500, having received the most tokens from Robertson’s customers. A huge thank you to SES Water for their brilliant backing of local charitable causes; and to Robertson’s (and their customers) for their continued support of our work. 

The Oxted United Reformed Church, another continuous supporter of Clockwork over the years, recently made a round of donations from their Legacy Fund to six local charities. The URC chose Clockwork as one of the beneficiaries, and made a donation of an incredible £1,250. We are extremely grateful to Oxted URC for their generosity. 

George Trapp is once again selling his magnificent Christmas Trees this year, and is again raising money for Clockwork for each tree sold, with all profits going to Clockwork. This is such a wonderful gesture from George, and we cannot thank him enough. A 5-6 foot tree costs £35, and a 6-7 foot tree costs £42 (other sizes available by request). Trees are of the Nordman (non-drop) variety, and are of very good quality. 

Orders can be placed by post, in person or via email up to 10pm on Friday 27th November, to be collected from Idol Hands Music Shop on Sunday 6th December from 3 to 5pm. Payment can be made by cheque (payable to George Trapp), cash or Paypal (to georgetrapp1961@gmail.com). Please send cheques or cash to Idol Hands, 24 Station Road West, Oxted, RH8 9EP. 

When placing your order please give your name, address and telephone number, and whether you will be picking up your tree from Idol Hands on 6th December, or require delivery (£5 surcharge). For more information, please contact George on 07931 953923; or email georgetrapp1961@gmail.com.

And finally, please note that our counselling referral service is continuing throughout lockdown, and we have expanded our capacity, so if you feel like you, or someone you know, might benefit from some extra support and having someone to talk through things with then do get in touch with us at support@clockwork.org.uk. 

Photo by Dylan Ferreira on Unsplash