The Oxjam Beeston Team look back on another fantastic music festival, when 90 volunteers from the local community came forward to help raise an incredible £26,460 for Oxfam’s international emergency aid and development work.
The amazing total raised by Oxjam Beeston could fund all of this:
- Four million cubed steel water tanks with roof and liner to provide clean, safe water for a community.
- Build 250 toilets
- Construct 4 water points
- Empower 100 women to know their rights and develop confidence
- Train 50 beekeepers
- Care for 200 mums and babies
- Twelve family tent shelters, each for 8 people
- Train 10 volunteers to identify & challenge violence against women
- Buy: 240 solar lights, 5 water testing kits, 40 goats, 200 Oxfam buckets, 500 sachets of rehydration salts, 100 mosquito bed nets, 164 bars of soap and 50 chickens!
That’s quite a shopping list, and a reminder that Oxjam Beeston brings people together to celebrate local music, whilst also raising vital funds for people in communities, worlds away from this leafy borough, living in extreme poverty.
Volunteer coordinators Darren Bailey and Steve Barton (who themselves, like all members of the team, fulfil their roles on a voluntary basis) were thrilled with how October’s big festival Takeover Day went: “We had a fantastic response from over 90 local residents wanting to do their bit – running stages, technical support, collecting donations, selling raffle tickets, setting up and generally running around – basically anything that was needed to make the day run as smoothly as possible, whilst also enjoying the festival. Their feedback was overwhelmingly positive – people had such a good time and we anticipate seeing many of them again next year!”
Takeover Manager Heather Greenan said:
“With thousands of festival goers, 16 stages and 127 bands/performers to coordinate in 12 hours, quite simply Takeover couldn’t have happened without such a stellar group of volunteers! We’re also hugely indebted to our Headline Sponsors The Star Inn, Beeston, as well as stage sponsorship from local businesses: J Flynn Optician, CP Walker, and Foster Industrial.
And there are many others who provided professional support: Volunteer Action Broxtowe, Breeze Magazine, PN Design, Touch of Frost Photography, University of Nottingham Mixed Reality Lab, Beeston Oxfam Books and Music, and a wonderful band of sound engineers.
The Oxjam Beeston phenomenon
Beeston has been hosting this amazing, much loved, volunteer led community event since 2011 and has raised record amounts of money, mainly through the big Takeover, but other events too, for example last year there was also an operatic evening, a ceilidh, an afternoon recital and several private house gigs. The running total of money raised for Oxfam stands at over £137,000!
Keep an eye on our website (oxjambeeston.org) or social media for details of this year’s festival. Whether you’re a volunteer, performer, sponsor, supporter, or music fan – Oxjam Beeston needs you!
Oxjam Beeston – you can enjoy this fantastic music festival whilst helping to raise funds for communities in extreme poverty. It’s a win-win!