TJ Awards

Oury Clark holds an annual event in memory of one of our partners who sadly passed away in 2015, Toby Smith.

Toby Smith died on the 21st July 2015 at the age of 33 of cancer.

It’s hard to explain what a deep and profound impact the loss of Toby has had on this firm.

He was such an exceptional person, with incredible positivity and love of people. He changed and effected so many people for the better in this firm. Toby was an exceptional person, radiating positivity and inspiring those around him to do the same. His influence uplifted countless individuals here, forming close bonds across the firm. As the son of a Senior Partner and the husband of another Partner he trained with, Toby’s presence touched many deeply. 

As you can imagine, in a family business like ours, his loss deeply affected our collective spirit, and it has taken time for us to regroup and find a way to honour him.

What became clear was a deep wish to keep his spirit in the firm alive. Hence The Toby Smith Awards were established.

The inaugural event was held on the 24th August 2017 at the Queen’s Eyot in Bray.

This event was a celebration of Toby’s life and as part of this, the company decided to create an award for a member of staff who best represented Toby’s Values – his integrity, positivity, incredible spirit of comradery and hard work.

Nominations were made by all staff members and everyone within the firm was eligible to be nominated.

TJ Awards

2024

We celebrated our rebranded TJ Awards on September 6th, 2024, in honour of our dearly missed Oury Clark partners, Toby Smith and Juliet Oury.

The event returned to the riverside marquee in Bray along the River Thames. Though the weather wasn’t as favourable this year, a little extra rain didn’t dampen our spirits as we enjoyed the Dragon boat race. 

This year’s winning team was Team Huw, led by Rachel Lockwood as the team drummer, who secured a clear victory.

We also held our annual Egg and Spoon race, which was won by Team “MaidenEGG”.

The highlight of the event was the Oury Clark Awards Ceremony, where staff members were recognised with various special awards, ranging from Best Fancy Dress to Good Samaritan.

The two main awards, voted for by the entire workforce, went to those who best embody the values of Toby and Juliet. Kim Stone from the Slough office received the Toby Award, and Rebecca Tagle from the London office was honoured with the Juliet Award.

TJ Awards

2023

Toby Awards and Juliet Cup 2023

This year we held another amazing event on the 8th September 2023.

The picturesque Riverside Marquee in Bray hosted us once more, allowing us to enjoy dragon boat racing again.

The September heatwave meant we were blessed with +30 degrees and beautiful sunshine – ideal for cooling down near the river.

After the Dragon Boats and the obligatory Oury Clark egg and spoon race the day was rounded off with our Awards Ceremony to recognise our team for their contributions (some serious, some hilarious).

This year alongside our Toby Award we introduced The Juliet Cup.

Juliet Muir Nee Oury was a member of the Oury Family and Senior Partner at Oury Clark who very sadly passed away in June this year from Pancreatic cancer at just 47. She was dearly loved by all the staff and will be sorely missed by everyone.

The staff voted for a member of staff who epitomised both Juliet and Toby’s values, principles and sense of fun and one award was awarded for each of our locations.

This year the Toby Award (Slough) was won by Ben Page and the Juliet Cup (London) was won by Rizwana Quazi.

TJ Awards

2022

2022 Toby awards were once again a major success and highlight of the Oury Clark calendar. Held on 2nd September at Rackley’s in the Chilterns.

We were extremely fortunate with the weather again, and we were able to enjoy an afternoon of fun events including a Bake-Off competition (who doesn’t like tasting cakes!) crazy golf and the annual Oury Clark Egg and Spoon battle. The Fancy dress theme of “B” this year led to an array of brilliant costumes, including Britney Spears, Bill & Ben, Butterflies, Bumblebees and Beetlejuice to name a few.

The awards ceremony this year included such awards as the Wim Hof award, Lockdown Survival award, Bountiful Emailer award and Fancy-Dress Winners. The evening’s main award, the Toby Smith Award—voted on by the entire company for the person who most represents Toby’s values—was proudly won by Alex Saxton this year. His colleagues cited his ability to light up the office with his positivity, his effort to engage with all staff and willingness to work hard and go the extra mile plus his excellent impressions of other staff members.

Well done, Alex!

TJ Awards

2021

We were extremely happy to be able to have the Toby Awards back ‘in person’ this year.

Held on the 3rd September at the incredible Rackleys venue (https://rackleys.co.uk/) in the Chiltern Hills, we were once again blessed with fine weather which contributed to an amazing party which this year included a Sumo competition, fancy dress and the obligatory egg and spoon race.

Thanks to @kodjovikush (on Instagram) for the music.

The awards ceremony included such worthy accolades as ‘Beyond the call of duty award’, ‘Epic comeback in a meeting award’ and ‘unsung Hero award’.  

The Toby Smith Award for the member of staff who most represented Toby’s values this year was awarded very deservedly to Sharon Taylor. 

TJ Awards

2020

We were very disappointed that we could not hold our annual Toby Awards Event in the summer this year with its’ usual team sports and competitions. But it takes more than Coronavirus to stop Oury Clark holding this much-loved occasion! 

Therefore, this year they were held as a Virtual Event, a Webinar attended by all staff members and fantastically hosted by a number of partners from the firm. Lots of fun and games took place, and staff were encouraged to join in the fun – fancy dress and “bubbles” provided to all. 

This year the Toby Award was very deservedly won by David Koch (Network Administrator Extraordinaire) for his outstanding communication skills and always going above and beyond proving that nothing is too much trouble for him. 

As well as having lots of fun, we also managed to raise money for a charity very close to our hearts – The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity – Cheers to raising a whopping £6,500!

TJ Awards

2019

Once again held at the beautiful Queen’s Eyot Island, we were fortunate to have another gloriously sunny Toby Awards event on the 1st August 2019. 

The theme this year was the letter ‘T’ and ‘T’-themed fancy dress was the order of the day. Once again, we had team dragon boat race, and this year the 2 teams were named “Oury There Yet” and ‘The Doggy Paddlers”. The champions for 2019 were “Oury There Yet” in a closely fought battle as always. 

Gin bar, Jazz Band, great food and great company – the friendly competition continued with a team obstacle course (Oury Clark Themed) and the FSA Department were the victors (due to some dubious tactics involving the second placed department – naming no names!!)

The pinnacle of the event the ‘Toby Smith Award’ this year was deservedly won by Bronwyn Hoyle from Oury Clark Solicitors who definitely managed to “keep calm and carry on” during the previous year’s mammoth renovation/building project at the London Office.

TJ Awards

2018

The 2nd Toby Awards took place on August 16, 2018—a fantastic evening enjoyed by all. Highlights included a cocktail-making competition, a Bake Off, egg-and-spoon and space hopper races, a spectacular fireworks display, and, of course, the ‘Grudge Match’: the Oury vs. Smith Dragon Boat race. This year, Team Smith claimed victory, evening the score at one win each. 

The awards ceremony took place and the Toby Smith Award for the member of staff who most represented Toby’s values was this year awarded to Tina Rudd for her kindness, helpfulness, commitment and dedication to Oury Clark. 

TJ Awards

2017

The awards event took place on a beautiful evening along the River Thames. A key highlight was the best-of-three dragon boat race between rival teams, ‘Team Oury’ and ‘Team Smith,’ with Team Oury emerging victorious this year—a title sure to be fiercely contested in the future! While many felt Team Smith might take the win, one wonders if Toby’s playful spirit tipped the balance just to tease his dad. The festivities also included an Oury Clark Bake Off and lively egg-and-spoon races. 

The culmination of the evening were the Awards themselves – not only the Toby Smith Award, but a number of different awards were also bestowed upon staff members for various accolades (from ‘best dressed’ to ‘most on time’– the list goes on). 

The Toby Smith Award was narrowed down to 11 Oury Clark members and was deservedly won by Paul Pleace. With the firm since 1974, Paul has been instrumental in training our trainee-chartered accountants and is always available to support all staff. His kindness, patience, and warmth have made him beloved by everyone here.  

The evening concluded with drinks and dancing, capping off a wonderful celebration. 

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