Oxford Phab has not met in person since Tom’s quiz in March 2020, due to the need to stay safe during the Covid Pandemic. We are really grateful to St Swithun’s church in Kennington for allowing us to meet in their lovely grounds and bring food to have an open-air picnic.
The weather was perfect, very sunny, with a gentle breeze, and would have been too hot, but for the shade provided by the trees. There was also a lovely wildflower meadow.
It was such a change to see people in real life again, and although video meetings are much better than nothing, they do not suit everybody, so we have not seen some members for over a year.
We even celebrated a birthday – with cup cakes for covid-safety.
At the moment nobody knows what the future holds, but it was good to get back to Making More of Life Together.
Disabled students often face extra barriers in access to Higher Education. ‘Study Higher’ are running a Webinar about this.
The webinar is run by Study Higher which aims to deliver impartial advice to young people in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Swindon about their future options in higher education. They also work with under-represented groups in higher education, such as disabled students.
The Study Higher webinar called Accessibility in Higher Education is aimed at students who would like to find out more about disability support at university or college. The webinar will take place on 8th July 5pm-6pm and students will be sent in the post an accompanying handout including an ‘applying to higher education as a disabled student’ checklist and a ‘questions to ask at open days’ checklist.
The session will cover:
Advice on where to go for disability support (from a Disability Support Officer at Oxford Brookes)
Advice on questions to ask when researching higher education
Advice on the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA)
Insight from a recent university graduate on accessing disability support
Hear from a disabled graduate about the transition from school to career
Note that you will need to register before the event, the link is to a registration site, not the the event.
Students will be sent in the post an accompanying handout including an ‘applying to higher education as a disabled student’ checklist and a ‘questions to ask at open days’ checklist.
In the nature of Phab, Oxford Phab members are a diverse bunch, and lockdown has affected us in different ways, but at the same time there are things which are the same for all of us.
Normal Club
Before lockdown a keystone of Oxford Phab was our normal club meetings at Wesley Memorial Church on a Friday night. Whenever possible we ran a minibus to bring members who could not otherwise get there, and did art and craft activities, played games, cooked and/or ate meals together. All the activities could be enjoyed by all our members, and also – something we appreciate more now that this is harder to do, we could just rage against the injustice of the world, chat, smile or laugh.
We do our best to replace this by getting together over the Internet for a chat on a Friday night, and also another chat session on a Monday night.
Online chat in lockdown
Meeting like this is a valuable social contact, but we are very aware that not all of our members can meet this way. Not everyone has access to the Internet and it does not provide the chance for smaller chats about subjects which might be deeply interesting to a small subset of our members, and deeply boring to the rest. I do still have occasional Jitsi chats with Phab friends to ensure the world continues to be set to rights.
The wider Phab
Another thing we did under the ‘old normal’ was to get together with members of other Phab clubs. While getting together in person is not possible at the moment the National Phab are organising quiz sessions through Facebook, which we then link to from our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/oxfordphab/ and some of our members join in those sessions.
Loss and remembering
Lives cut untimely short are not a completely new experience for us. Roy Lewis, who was chairman of Oxford Phab several years ago, was someone who everyone who was fortunate enough to know him will always remember. His wisdom, kindness, intellect and optimism certainly inspired me. He was also a ruthless draughts player, and could knock back Brandy and Babycham when we were out and about with an impressive lack of impact on his ability to hold an intelligent conversation on a wide range of subjects. He was not the first member we have lost, and there have been several others since, but I, and as many members as could, made a special effort to join the diverse group of mourners at his funeral.
It is particularly hard to lose Kelly at a time when we can not gather to mourn and remember. Although in many ways a completely different person to Roy, she too had an astonishing range of friends, inside and outside Phab who will miss her very much. One of the things which makes Phab special is that we find common ground within our diversity.
Kelly at a Zumbathon
Zumba
One of the things Kelly enjoyed at Phab was Zumba, and we are very fortunate that George Martini is able to do online Zumba sessions with us on Friday Nights, which we follow with a chat (as we did when we all met up at Wesley Memorial).
This can be just as energetic as face-to-face Zumba – and we are sometimes joined by people who have supported Phab through running garden parties, helping out selling refreshments and so on, who would not normally be able to join in, as well as particularly close members of other Phab clubs.
We were really excited about our planned holiday to Avon Tyrrell in August, but have had to cancel that due to the virus. We have to make do, for now, with remembering the fun we had last year, and in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and all the other jolly holidays we have had.
Looking forward
Nobody can be sure what the future will hold, but we hope we can learn from these difficult times, continue to support each other in new ways, as well as old and that the strengths which have brought us through previous crises will bring us though this too. We appreciate the support we have had from Wesley Memorial Church, friends and families of members, carers and NHS staff.
Kelly, who has been coming to Oxford Phab since 2001, died on Monday 27th April 2020, after a short illness. We will miss her very much, as she was not only a keen participant in the activities of the club, but an embodiment of ‘Making More of Life Together’
Making – she certainly did, enjoying all sorts of craft activities.
Making Hama beads
Art and Craft Day at Hounslow
Picture Frames
Another favourite activity was Zumba, where she not only joined in sessions with Oxford Phab, but was part of the wider Zumba community, where she is also greatly missed.
She had strong connections with the wider Phab, keeping in touch with people she met at sponsored walks, Phab Southeast fun weekends and other Phab events. She was nominated for the Louis Goldberg Award in 2006, and went to the House of Lords to receive a certificate of nomination.
Chatting in the bar
Facepainted butterfly
She was also a great ambassador for Phab in the community, getting to know people when we went on holiday, to Hinksey Heights Golf Club, Carol singing or anywhere we were out and about.
Everywhere we went as a group there seemed to be people coming along to say ‘Hi Kelly’, for example at Cowley Road Carnival, where she was helping on our stall.
Tom’s wide range of questions reflected his wide range of interests, as well as the interests of club members. We played in teams, which was lucky, as the chances of a single individual (apart, presumably from Tom) being able to recognise, in the picture round, scenes from Paw Patrol and Gone with the Wind, were pretty slim.
As usual we received a warm welcome at Donningon Social Club, and what could be a better way to spend a Friday night that going out for a drink with friends ?
The people we meet at Donnington are very supportive and it is good to have a change of scene.
Every year we make pancakes before Lent, and this year was no exception. The pancakes were cooked in the kitchen, and then we could add our preferred toppings out of a wide selection, ranging from the traditional sugar and lemon, through oranges with chocolate sauce to Biscoff sauce.
Our trusty minibus took us though the stormy weather to Houslow for an Art and Craft session. We are very fortunate to have our own transport, which not only allows us to take part in activities with other clubs – like this one, and to go on holidays and other trips, but to do a pickup on a Friday night when circumstances allow. It is five years since our very first club outing in the silver minibus, which was also to Hounslow Phab Art and Crafts day.
Hounslow Phab had organised a range of activities, such as decorating eggs, hama beads, making keyrings and pictures frames.
They also, for those who had booked this, provided tasty cheese burgers, salads etc.
Despite the pleasures of the day we were pleased to return safely to Oxford.
