As we move into spring, we have some news to share on a new counselling venture, which further increases the support we are offering to children and young adults in the local area.
Counselling & Youth Support
Starting in the spring term, Clockwork will be providing five one-to-one weekly counselling sessions at St Mary’s Primary School in Oxted. While our counselling support has tended to be primarily targeted at older individuals (namely secondary school aged pupils, through to those in their mid-20s) we believe it is important to have support in place for younger children too, in order to provide mental health support at an early stage in development. It is our hope that, in certain cases, this will enable assistance and guidance to be offered when mental health issues first emerge in young people, and so we see this as an important step to complement our existing work.
We continue to have five contracted counsellors going into Oxted School each week, providing a total of twenty seven one-to-one counselling sessions, and feedback continues to be very positive.
We also continue to offer sessions at the Master Park Hub building, with six sessions available across Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. We are grateful to the Master Park Trustees, who continue to allow Clockwork to use the facilities free of charge. The counselling sessions are free of charge to the user and are available to young people aged up to 24 in the Oxted area. If you would like to request a counselling referral then please email support@clockwork.org.uk
This means that, under the Clockwork banner, a total of thirty-eight weekly one-to-one counselling sessions are available during term times – with outside school sessions continuing in the holidays. In addition to this, we continue to work with two independent counsellors based in Warlingham, who can provide additional availability where required.
Finally, we have undertaken to make an initial donation of £500 to a local youth group who meet on Tuesday afternoons at Oxted Community Hall. Their previous source of funding has been withdrawn, making it difficult for them to continue to provide the activities they had previously offered. We hope our contribution allows the playing of games, the eating of snacks and the development of this community to continue! For further information on the group please email 4youthoxted@gmail.com
Thank You to Our Supporters
While our counselling is provided free to the recipient, we pay our counsellors an agreed commercial rate for the services they provide. Our ability to continue to provide these services is primarily reliant on the generosity of our supporters, so our deepest thanks if you have given to Clockwork, whether that is directly or by supporting someone raising money on Clockwork’s behalf.
Our second Massive Music Quiz in November raised over £1,000 in ticket sales and donations, so thank you for all who supported that event, and thank you to Steve Bigsby – from Channel 4’s Hunted – who came along and spoke so passionately about the importance of youth mental health support. We will be back for a third incarnation later this year!
George Trapp once again sold Christmas Trees to raise money for Clockwork in December, raising an amazing £3,000. The support of the Trapp family over the years has been nothing short of amazing, and we are so grateful to them.
We were also a beneficiary of the Oxted United Reformed Church Christmas Tree Festival in December, and would like to thank Oxted URC more broadly for their significant ongoing support of Clockwork over the past few years, which has made a huge difference to our counselling work.
A very special thanks to Amanda Wilgrave at Flirty Flowers for organising a wreath-making workshop, with proceeds going to Clockwork, that raised over £5,000! This is an incredible amount, and we are overwhelmed by everyone’s efforts and generosity.
And another special thanks to The Royal Warrant Holders Association – another long standing supporter of ours – for awarding Clockwork a grant of £3,000. Thank you!
Our thanks and appreciation to Sarah Anderson at RockFit, who, in conjunction with Randy and The Rockets, organised a special fundraising event for Clockwork for the second year running; to The Oxted Runners, who chose Clockwork as a beneficiary of their 10k Titsey Trail event; to Oxted School 6th form students, for once again choosing Clockwork as a nominated charity for their RAG week; and to Titsey Rotary Club, Tom Jaggers, Simon Gower, and Alison Sweeting for their donations.
Also, a heartfelt thanks to all those who have recurring direct debit donations to Clockwork set up through our Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) page. Your ongoing support is very much appreciated. To donate through CAF, either as a one-off or more regularly, please visit https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/14091#!/DonationDetails
And thanks again to anyone who has Clockwork as their nominated local charity as part of the Tandridge Together Lottery. 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.
