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.
A slide from the presentation
Simon – projection operator
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 !
We had a jolly time at Bowlplex, using 3 lanes, and several of our members achieving good scores. We were slowed a little by lack of availability of bowling balls with Medium or Large finger holes – across our 3 lanes we had 2 Medium balls, which meant people had to wait for a ball they could bowl with quite a bit, as most of us could not get our fingers in the Small and eXtra Small finger holes. Luckily we were not in a rush.
In our lane the conversation between bowling had turned to Retro Gaming so it was a coincidence to see a modern take on Space Invaders in the Arcade section of Hollywood Bowl. Who could resist having a go ?
Once a year Oxford City opens its doors to give the public access to many places which are not normally open to the public in its Open Doors event. On the same weekend the Ride and Stride event raises money for the Oxford Historic Churches Trust, with people sponsored to walk or cycle to visit churches. Visitors for either event, or who were merely passing were welcome to come to Wesley Memorial Church to purchase refreshments in aid of the church Open Doors project.
Since Oxford have have benefited, and continue to benefit from the improvements to the premises the project has provided several Phab members were happy to join the other volunteers from the church to help.
As we had heavy rain last year for our Barbecue at Simon and Sarah’s House, and it had rained at the Barbecue the previous year as well, the committee decided to plan for all eventualities this year. We hired Botley W.I. Hall for the evening, which turned out to be a good decision.
Simon still proved his mettle as master of the barbecue, ably assisted by Chris, and wisely lent us one of his two new gazebos in case it was needed – it was!
We erected the gazebo and got the barbecue started before most members arrived, when – luckily – it was not too wet.
By the time hungry members started to arrive it was wet !
Luckily there was plenty of space for people inside – this picture was before most people arrived.
We carried on cooking burgers (meat on the left side of the barbecue), vegetarian kebabs (we kept the right hand side of the barbecue meat free), vegetarian sausages. Inside the W.I. Hall we were cooking Chicken, the non-vegetarian sausages and preparing salads, setting out buns for burgers and rolls for hot dogs, serving drinks etc. There were also a selection of cheesecakes and other deserts.
Unfortunately there are no pictures of this feast, and the next stage was loading the minibus, packing away the gazebo, clearing the kitchen, sweeping floors etc.
So that we could leave the W.I. Hall looking tidy.
It was quite a warm night, even before we started doing Zumba. Some members chose to stay in the John Wesley room, but those who took part had a very enjoyable session. Thanks to George for the session !
Unfortunately the hoist at the boathouse was broken, so only a small group (who also had to be prepared to forego a Sunday lie-in) were able to go canoeing.
As we always find, the instructor was very good, and had everybody playing ‘tag’ – which he was much better at than everybody else !
A group, mostly of members who had not been able to have a go last year, had a chance to try the Zip Wire.
It was a thrilling experience !
While some members were on the Zip Wire, others were trying their hand at Archery, as we did last year.
Having worked up a good appetite we returned to the Lodge for home made pizza as our Pizza Night in June had gone so well.
Fueled by our lunch we loaded the minibus and cars and went home for a rest !
