Charlie’s Charitable Cause...

When we first discussed the idea of releasing some sort of U.K. Subs recordings under the banner of our Time & Matter website, we both knew that we weren’t going to do it to make money for ourselves. The U.K. Subs have provided us with so much pleasure and enjoyment in following their musical course over the decades that we thought it was time to give ‘something back.’ 

This ‘giving something back’ would be twofold. We wanted to provide fellow Subs fans with some ‘new’ semi-official product at reasonable prices, and whilst we were doing this, our other intent was to donate all profits to a charity.

So the question was ‘How do we decide who gets the cash?’ As our releases were going to be Subs recordings who else to ask, but Charlie Harper?

After first considering well known charities such as Oxfam or Amnesty International, after discussing our proposals with Charlie, he provided an obvious answer.

Charlie was very supportive of what we tentatively termed our "little bootleg label and charity idea", the only issue was he thought too much money given to charities ends up going on administration. Not enough ends up going directly to those who need the help.

The answer, after his suggestion, was that Charlie would choose an individual that he felt deserved some help/support and all the profit would go directly to them.

Time & Matter Recordings is therefore now registered as a ‘not for profit company’, which means that we can raise more money from each release and pass that on to each recipient without forking out to get proper charity status.

The recipient of the monies made on our releases will be changed once we feel that we have raised enough money to have made some sort of difference to their circumstances.

The current recipient of monies raised from Time & Matter Recordings is Michael Headjam.
Please see below this statement for more information...

Rob & Mark
Editors/Curators – Time & Matter website
February 2010

Michael was born in 1995, the youngest of four, his mother Sarah (a nurse at the time), knew instinctively something wasn’t right.

After two years of tests at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, it was discovered that Michael had a form of Genetic Metabolic Syndrome, a condition with a root cause and exact make-up that has no proper name.

Now fifteen years old, Michael is left with limited speech, some mobility issues, a risk of epilepsy and damage to his internal organs which will cause him problems in later life.

Despite all this, Michael is an active and happy teenager. He’s learning Makaton sign language to help him communicate; he loves football - with Chelsea and Brentford being his favourite teams – and he loves music and punk rock, especially the Subs (naturally!)

Left on her own, Sarah has taken care of Michael, but eventually had to give up full-time work. Sarah has had to support them both with the limited Carers allowance paid by the government plus the work she does driving for the U.K. Subs and other acts.

“It's wonderful the Subs have made such a heartfelt gesture. It shows what a wonderful crew they are. I've seen how hard they work, how professional they are and what it’s like touring with them. It's a privilege to be a small part of that, especially as they were also the soundtrack to my teenage years. How lucky am I? I'd have paid for the privilege... and now they look to help my Michael.”