Hurrah for this sort of thing!

There's been a flurry of activity this last couple of weeks, with a busy period likely also in the run-up to Christmas. Many thanks to everyone who has helped out in any way.

First, the weekend's Book Fair raised a fantastic £2,650 for Oxfam's work. Over 560 people came through the door, many of them finding out about the event by seeing someone carrying a placard in the street (I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's clearly vital. Actually, I rather like doing it!). Thanks to everyone who helped, and especially Helen, who put such a huge amount of work in in the run-up to the event as well as on the day. She is planning a well-deserved break from being Book Fair Supremo, and won't be organising the next one, so if you can volunteer to lead (or just take part in) the organising team, that would be great. It isn't an admin-heavy activity, but we do need someone to keep a track on things, especially the regular pricing.

The previous weekend's Stand Up and Speak Out events were also a great success. OOG members took part in the lobbies of Andrew Smith MP and prospective parliamentary candidate Steve Goddard in East Oxford, and Evan Harris MP in the Town Hall. We raised the issues of climate change and funding the Millennium Development Goals, and the reactions of all three were generally positive.

Saturday 17th saw us out in Cornmarket Street, campaigning with other members of the BOND coalition and making a public call to action on these issues. At noon a big crowd assembled, made lots of noise, waved placards, and even sung songs! A big thank you to our friends at Christain Aid for doing lots of the organising, and also to Maranda from CCOW (Christian Concern for One World), who played a huge role in making Stand Up happen across Oxfordshire. Increasingly, OOG's campaigning work (like Oxfam's nationally) is happening in coalition, which brings us huge benefits in terms of reach and resources. There are a number of local coalitions now, including fair trade, and climate change groups, both of which have had strong OOG involvement. If you are interested in finding out more about this, please get in touch.

Lastly, I thought you'd like to see one of the increasingly famous Oxfam polar bears strutting its stuff in Oxford, carrying the message "humans need saving too"!