An Annual General Meeting may sound dull, but when your chair is a jolly as ours
Helen – in ‘chair’ pose
it is a chance to look back on the fun things we did last year, and plan the exciting things we hope to do next year. Looking a bit further forward, Oxford Phab will have been running for 40 years in 2021, so we would like to celebrate that. Our History page has more of the story. We discussed the fundraising we will need to do to some fundraising to encourage donations towards a major event.
As the television is now into full scale Christmas advertising mode, and has been showing Christmas Films for months, even though it is not yet Advent we are starting to get into the spirit, by making Christmas Decorations.
Amazingly one of the key components of these decorations is the humble wire coat hanger !
Phab members from all over the South East of England congregated in Chichester for a weekend of activities and socialising.
We started a weekend of delicious food with a buffet dinner on Friday evening.
Tom even went back for seconds !
After a cooked breakfast buffet on Saturday we went off to a range of activities. These included Amazing Animals, which I had already seen 2015 and 2017, so I did not go to the session again, but those members who did saw (and – if they wanted a chance to touch !) a similar range of Amazing Animals.
Other members tried Indoor Archery, Taekwondo, making edible Christmas decorations etc.
Another option was Boccia and Indoor Curling. I had not tried Indoor Curling before, but Tom, already our club Boccia expert, proved a dab hand at Indoor Curling too.
After a buffet sandwich lunch we had an afternoon session including Laughing Yoga, which was great fun and a good way to relate to other Phab members.
The evening culminated in a dinner, which was made extra special by a bottle of champagne to celebrate the wedding of Leslie and Caroline. The hotel were fantastic in making this a special weekend for them, providing many thoughtful touches such as flowers in their room.
Entertainment was provided by DJ Lee, who sang and danced, while awarding chocolate prizes to anyone who could hit him with a balloon rocket while he sang and moved around the dance floor.
Breakfast on Sunday started a little later. Another buffet breakfast with a range of options and an opportunity for those of a voracious appetite (or those who had not remembered that a full roast dinner Sunday lunch was not far away) to have a full cooked breakfast again.
Breakfast was followed by an Act of Worship, led by Mary, for those who wished to attend. This was followed by a Quiz – in which Oxford Phab came second !
Finally after a Sunday Lunch, with Roast Beef (or Turkey or a vegetarian option) and all the trimmings, we said goodbye to the old friends we had met again, and the new friends we had made, and departed for home.
As we did last year, we joined in the Zumbathon at the Christian Life Centre on Cowley Road for an evening of enthusiastic Zumba dance, where we joined the participants making donations to Children in Need
It was quite chilly before everybody started, but everybody soon warmed up once the Zumba got going. We had a slot, doing a routine we had practiced with George Martini. Our energy levels may not have been the same as some of the Zumba instructors, but we enjoyed it, and it was great to participate.
The fun continued as we joined in other dances – great fun, and raising money for a good cause.
