Things we do in the club
Pancakes are always popular, and Mary made sure we had plenty to enjoy.
We had a variety of fillings available, though the traditional lemon and sugar was the most popular.
We were also joined by a musical friend of one of our members, who played the guitar and sung a number of songs for us. Their kindness was appreciated by our members.
Like many other social activities the Wesley Memorial Church party, normally held in January, had not taken place since 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Having decided it was time to resume the tradition they kindly invited Phab.
The evening began with socialising and a quiz, involving identifying a range of people, each famous in their own way, ranging from John Wesley to Little Mix, from pictures posted on the walls of the John Wesley Room.
This was followed by a bring and share meal in the Hall, where church members had made a variety of tasty salad, and brought little sausages, crisps and other snacks. This was followed by range of desserts and fresh fruit.
Once everyone had eaten their fill, and while a stalwart team in the kitchens laboured over the clearing up, we played several games of Beetle.
For many years Oxford Phab has joined together for a traditional Christmas Dinner, to which we invite people who have been particularly supportive, or have some special connection with the club. Due to Covid we had not been able to do this since 2019, which made this one particularly special.
A team of volunteers peeled potatoes, parsnips, made stuffing, cooked the turkey joints, laid the tables and prepared the feast for the arrival of members and guests.
As the diners were arrived they gathered in the hall, and chatted and tackled the Christmas Quiz, with questions ranging from ‘Where was baby Jesus born ?’to ‘What is the most fragrant real Christmas tree ?’
We all moved into the John Wesley Room, and enjoyed a delicious meal, with turkey and all the trimmings, or a vegetarian pie, followed by home made Christmas pudding, or fruits and meringue (or both for those who still had room !)
We were also pleased to be joined by Kelly’s family, who had brought a cake, as this would have been her birthday,
We enjoyed Mamma Mia the musical so much when it came to Oxford in 2017 that as soon as we knew it was coming back in 2023 we booked it again at the New Theatre.
We were not disappointed – an evening full of familiar songs and well executed dance numbers left us humming the tunes as we loaded our minibus for the way home.
One of our Christmas traditions is that we play Bingo for chocolates and other small prizes, brought in by members, and enjoyed by other members. We have our own bingo machine, and re-usable bingo cards, which we mark off with old plastic bottle tops as counters. With a jolly caller, enthusiastic players and plenty of prizes we are all set for an evening of entertainment.
With Christmas approaching it is useful to be able to make little personal gifts for friends or family, or to decorate our homes with festive decorations.
We also added a little to the board of memory we had made at the Phab Southeast Fun Weekend, as not all our members had gone to that.
Oxford celebrates turning on its Christmas lights with an evening of activities at various venues, one of those being Wesley Memorial Church,
We started the evening in the Sanctuary – the main part of the church, where we chatted amongst ourselves and with church people and members of the public. We also ate Pizza, Stollen and Mince Pies. Amongst other activities one of church member was drawing caricatures of people, including some of our members.
We then moved through to the hall, and worked off some of the pizza with some hockey and boccia.
Activities involving food are always popular, and tonight was no exception ! With a team in the kitchen making pizza bases our members could add toppings of their choice and return them to the kitchen for cooking.
We had a wide selection of toppings to choose from so each one came out different. Almost a metaphor for Phab, in that they are all different at first sight, but built from the same base, and all valued as individuals !
One of the highlights of our online sessions, when we could not get together in person during the Covid pandemic were our Zumba sessions with George Martini.
These allowed people to participate who would not have been able to get to an in-person Zumba session. Also, as one member observed ‘You can turn your camera off and really go wild !’. On the other hand being together and being able to see how others are doing can be inspiring as well as inhibiting.
George is always very positive and encouraging with us, and makes sure the sessions match our abilities. We are already looking forward to having another Zumba session in our next programme.
The weather had been much too hot for our originally planned event, of a walk round Farmoor Reservoir, so the friendly people at Hinksey Heights Golf Course accommodated our last minute request to meet there, and we were able to put in some food orders in advance.
We were able to chat, eat and drink in the shade, looking back on our recent trip to Avon Tyrrell, and letting members who had not had a chance to come hear all about it.
We also celebrated some recent birthdays with cakes and cup cakes !