Things we do in the club
Calling out around the world
Lyrics from Dancing in the Street, one of the Motown hits
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
After a Christmas break we Oxford Phab Members were ready for a brand new beat, which we found at the New Theatre, when we went to see ‘Motown – the Musical‘
The show is full of hit songs, performed by an energetic cast, and worth coming out on a cold January Friday for.
Preparing Christmas Dinner for over 30 people involves quite a bit of preparation, planning and shopping for ingredients – even before the day of the meal. This year some of the items I won in the box of Christmas goodies which was second prize in the raffle at the Six Counties Kidney Patients Association Christmas meal could be put to good use.
We went to Wesley Memorial Church after lunch and got stuck into the preparation.
When our members and guests started to arrive Penny kept us entertained with game of Higher or Lower.
While the entertainment was happening in the Hall, the kitchen team were busy (in both kitchens), doing the final preparations.
We had turkey – supplied by Hedges Butchers, who not only gave us a good price, but provided cooking advice – pigs in blankets, bread sauce, roast potatoes, parsnips, sprouts, carrots, peas, and vegetarian options.
The main course was followed by real Christmas Pudding, or strudel, Viennetta, mixed fruits etc.
It was a lovely way to close the year for our members, and to say thank you to our guests who have supported the club in many ways.
Despite having been up all the previous night, watching the Election results and raising over £100 pounds for Oxford Phab, Tom was still awake to act as our Bingo caller for our usual selection of prizes brought in by members.
We all had a good time, and everybody wins prizes.
Kelly and Tricia getting into the Christmas spirit with seasonal jumpers !
Oxford Gospel Choir were melodious, harmonious, uplifting, inspirational … I could go on, but suffice to say we had a wonderful time.
They had over a hundred singers, out of whom a range of talented soloists and conductors emerged to provide variety.
They also provided refreshments during the interval, with proceeds going to Restore, an Oxfordshire based mental health charity.
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 !
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.
Banbury Phab invited us to the Halloween Party. We ate hot dogs and pizza, and tasty treats, some with a Halloween theme.
Some of us got dressed up, as did several of the Banbury members.
Then we finished the evening with a disco.
Sarah put a lot of preparation into the Video Games night. She prepared a presentation with information about the Handheld Computer game systems she owns, putting them into their historical context and telling us more about them.
She also brought along a selection of handheld game consoles and some games
and told us about them
We also had George Martini come to give us a Zumba refresh, and we celebrated Wendy’s forthcoming birthday with cake !
Anything involving eating is very popular, and for a chilly autumn evening what could be better than our making and eating cookies.
Maria made authentic American Cookie dough, into which we incorporated our choices from a deliciously unhealthy selection.
These cookies were then passed to our kitchen team for baking.
And the result was delicious cookies for us to enjoy !
We all gathered in the Hall, due to a meeting in the John Wesley Room. I hope our enthusiastic Zumba session did not intrude on their meeting.
We all sat around and chatted beforehand.
The session started with some Seated Zumba, which still provided a good workout.
We also rehearsed the routine we will perform at the Zumbathon to raise money for Children in Need on November 8th. A video of the routine is posted for club members to the Oxford Phab Private Facebook Group for rehearsal purposes. If members do not have access to Facebook they should contact me and I can share it with them via Google Photos.
We then moved on to some more conventional Zumba, this section had us in a circle, with some seated and some standing.
