Alison McGardle first contacted Oxfam Ireland in July to say she had just booked The Ambassador, Dublin - whose capacity is 1000 – to say that she was organising an ‘all ages’ gig for Oxjam with about 10 bands playing.

From that moment she got sponsors on board to help with designing and printing posters, got Phantom FM on board to help with the publicity and was interviewed by both the Irish Times and Hot Press which each featured lengthy articles about her 18th of October gig.

Not only did she sell over 600 tickets but also sold Oxjam t-shirts and had a stand in the venue where young people could sign up to become campaigners with Oxfam. Well done Ali & the team!! Go girls!!

Steve Landon, a coach in Newtownpark Tennis Club, Blackrock, Co. Dublin decided to take Oxjam to his tennis club. For a whole Saturday afternoon kids and adults practiced tennis drills to great music which boomed out over the courts from a weather-proof ghetoblaster. Thanks Steve, a great new Oxjam idea!!

Meanwhile up in Bangor, Co. Down, Phillip Graham invited friends and family to his very own iPod party. Guests brought along their iPods and were allowed 15 minutes to show off their music collection to the gathered audience. Mind you, they had to pay £5 for the privaledge. Thanks Phillip, I think you may have started a new Oxjam trend!!

Jane came up with an unusual idea for an Oxjam home party. Guests were invited to come along with a favourite classical track on a CD. Tracks were allowed to be no longer than 6 minutes each. Each track was introduced personally, explaining why the guest liked that track.

Music ranged from operatic duets to jazz tunes to Russian choral pieces to rarely heard chinese melodies. Well done Jane – a fantastic Oxjam idea!! (Thanks also to the elf who donated the fantastic sound system for the evening!!)

Anne-Marie Redmond and the Oxjam team at the Waltons New School of Music put on a night to remember in The Button Factory on October 29th. Flamenco guitars, opera duets, trad tunes, double basses, harmonicas, soul and blues and jazz all made up a colourful night of top class music. There was even a surprise visit from some capoeira dancers.

A fun raffle with prizes donated by local businesses (including a fantastic acoustic guitar donated by Waltons) added to the large pot of money which was donated to Oxfam Ireland. Thanks!

Thanks to our fantastic Oxjam volunteers John O’Donoghue and Ger Murphy who between them organised 5 gigs in the Oxfam shop window in Georges st, Dublin.

Ger himself appeared with band member Brian Canavan along with Saccade and Herb D. Thanks also to Dave Nolan who performed in a solo lunch-time gig.

And of course well done to shop manager Solene Rapinel for well… just having a great shop!!!

It was fun, see you all again next year!!

Chris, Sian and Andy are experienced Oxjammers. During the summer while most of us were complaining about the weather they were busy booking venues. The Empire in Belfast for 3 Sunday night Oxjam gigs – and McHughs bar for 3 Thursday night Oxjam gigs – all for the month of October.

Gigs with Burning Codes, Joe Echo and John D’arcy played on Oct 19th in the Empire. Mojo Fury and Poets Pocket Symphony played on Oct 23rd in McHughs. Colin Bateman, Terri Hooley and Stuart Baile joined in on Oct 5th at The Empire. Hours of work, lots of laughs, thanks guys!!

Sean Kinahan – another veteran Oxjammer led the Oxjam Dundalk troops this year. He organised local musicians to play on Oct 25th in the local Oxfam shop. Other events in Dundalk this year were 2 gigs at the Sportsbowl organised by Fiona O’Shea and Ruth McElroy. Well done Oxjam Dundalk!!

It wasn’t difficult to chose the winner of this category ‘most enthusiastic venue manager’. The photos said it all. Pole dancing customers on the bar top?? Local trad musicians packed the small and cosy venue and were joined by local members of Ardfert gospel choir.  A raffle was held which contributed to the total €725 that was donated to Oxfam Ireland. Thanks Eimear for organising and thanks Billy for all your energy and wacky ideas!! See you next year!!

Johathan Milligan and the Oxjam team in Irvinestown, Co. Fermanagh raised a whopping €4000 by organising a single Oxjam event. Johnny Gallagher, The Boxtie Band, The Logues, Michael Cassidy and Back to Black lined up in Mahon’s Hotel on Sunday October 26th.

3 weeks preparation was all they had but they managed to rope in local sponsors and businesses and got lots of coverage for their event in local media. Well done Oxjam Irvinestown. What a success!!

Aoife O’Callaghan and her team of Oxjammers organised an ‘all ages gig’ at the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork on October 4th. They sold over 200 tickets at €10 a head. Bands included local superstars Circus Cat, Mucky Wall and Loveless Lemon. They raised over €1000. Well done Oxjam Cork!!! Your prizes are in the post!!

Patrick Geoghan organised a huge ‘all ages gig’ at the River Bank House Hotel in Wexford. Band sign ups included Mr Lightweight. Patrick also sold over 200 tickets at €10 a head and rasied over €1000 for Oxfam Ireland. Patrick even got his gig mentioned in the transition year supplement in the Irish Times. Well done Oxjam Wexford!!! Your prizes are in the post!!

Each day for the next 10 working days one Oxjam hero will be announced. Categories include biggest Oxjam ‘08 event, best poster, best home party, most enthusiastic venue owner/manager and many many more……

Over 80 Oxjam events were registered by members of the general public with Oxfam Ireland during October ‘08. In it’s 1st year (2007), Oxjam raised €22,000 which funded Education, HIV & AIDS, Livelihoods and Humanitarian projects in East and Southern Africa.

To date Oxjam ‘08 has brought in €30,000….
So very well done all you hard-working Oxjammers. It was fun.

Thanks to everyone involved – it was great working with you.
See you all again next year.