Things we do to raise money
After the high energy excitement of ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie‘, some of us moved to the more tranquil setting of Wesley Memorial Church, were we listened to and participated in a mixture of tradition and modern Christmas Carols.
It has been a difficult year for many, so it was good to have the last opportunity of 2023 for Phab member to gather together as a time of uplifting music and words of hope.
George Martini and his Zumba Instructor friends kindly laid on a Zumba session for us from 11am until 12:30 – a morning of high energy activity which sped by. Phab members, friends and supporters paid £10, came and danced and had a great time and raised over £300.
Afterwards we were able to restore the burnt-off calories with home made coffee cake, courgette and poppy seed buns and tea or coffee.
We were also delighted to be joined by one of our original members, and had an opportunity to chat and reminisce.
Once again the sun shone on the Annual Wesley Memorial Church Garden Party. Many scones were made, and consumed with clotted cream and strawberry jam. In the interests of science both the Cornish method (jam first, cream on top) and the Devon method (cream first and then jam) were tested, and the conclusion ? – More research needed!
The swimming pool was available, as well as impromptu games of football and badminton, and to top off the event a choir sang madrigals.
It was a welcome opportunity for Phab and church members to mingle and chat.
Thanks to many generous donations the event also raised over £500 for Oxford Phab.
Two things greatly important to us came together in this event – helping others and toilets. Supporting each other is core to what Phab means, and toilets loom large in the memories of anyone who has been out and about with Phab, particularly in the days when accessible toilets were scarce and often dumping grounds for unused furniture ! (Frustrating when someone is desperate to use them for their inteneded use)
There is an organisation which works to build toilets in the world’s poorest countries We tend to take access to good sanitation for granted – most of us even have a toilet in our own homes! For many people this is not the case, and Toilet Twinning was set up to help them. You can find out more about them by visiting their website at https://www.toilettwinning.org/
We went on a wet walk at Farmoor reservoir to raise money to ‘twin’ the two accessible toilets. It was very wet !
However we persevered, and despite the rain, made it to the far side of Farmoor reservoir.
Please consider donating at:
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/PhabClubTwinaLoo
Although we have already hit our fundraising target, more donations will be welcome. If you read the website at https://www.toilettwinning.org/ I am sure you will agree it is a good cause.
Wesley Memorial Church members held a Garden Party, with donations going to Oxford Phab.
This was a delightful opportunity for church and Phab members to mingle and enjoy each others company, as well as cakes and scones made by church members.
We picked a hot evening for our Sponsored Zumbathon, but George’s enthusiasm, and plentiful supplies of water and squash kept us going.
That, and the need to raise funds to keep doing fun things. Some members have individual donation pages for the event. If you know someone who has one please use it, or the paper form if they are using those. Otherwise donations are welcome via the Club Fundraising page at https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/oxfordphabclub.
To find out more about our Fundraising, and how you can Donate, please see our Donate page.
Members of Wesley Memorial Church once again kindly baked scones and cakes, and hosted a party in the garden of one of the church families so that church and Phab members could eat and socialise. Unfortunately the weather was not as kind as last year, but the welcome was just as warm, and the cakes just as delicious.
Sheltering from the light rain in a gazebo.
Tucking into home made scones with jam and cream.
We are very fortunate to be the Captain’s Charity of Hinksey Heights Golf Club this year, and were invited to the Captain’s Day.
They had a raffle, with generously donated prizes.
We enjoyed the pleasant weather
and the barbecue
and thanked Hinskey Heights Golf Club for their support.
As on previous occasions, our members were lucky in the raffle !
We very much enjoyed the day, and the company of the Golf Club members and staff.
We enjoyed doing the Fun Run in 2012 and 2013, and went back again to do it this year.
The Oxford Fun Run is organised each year by the Rotary Club of Oxford. They have run this event every year since 1989, and their activities have raised a lot of money for good causes over the years.
There was a slightly different route for wheelchair users, which avoided having to travel over grass, which can be difficult if the weather has been wet.
We gathered at the start.
We did not race round, but enjoyed the event, content to be overtaken by speedier runners, and walkers.
Reunited at the end.
We were very pleased to be awarded the Pathways Workshop Special Achievement Award.
It was presented by Andrew Smith, MP for Oxford East, who also met us when we did the Oxford Fun Run in 2012.
We did this to raise money for our club activities, particularly so we can keep our Minibus going and to subsidise some events which would not otherwise be affordable for all our our members.
Several of our members have fundraising pages at mydonate, which it sponsored by BT, so does not take any commission of your donation, and deals with Gift Aid etc. Donations via my link, above, or any of the following will all help.
We were the Hinksey Heights Golf Club Captains Charity in 2016, and were invited to their Captain’s Drive In. We were very happy to come back, and sell more tickets for their raffle, as well as sticks which their members could place on the course to show where they thought first drive of this year’s captains would reach.
We were very pleased to accept a cheque for the amount their members had raised on our behalf during the year, at events like the Captain’s Day.
Tom won an Easter Egg in the raffle
Tom won an Easter Egg in the raffle
