Events which take place at Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, New Inn Hall Street, Oxford
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.
With some members off sick with various winter bugs, and others unable to come our numbers were a little low, but we still enjoyed getting together for a chat and cup of tea or coffee. We did not do an organised activity this evening, but talked about books, politics, family and social history, and a multitude of other topics.
As we are now meeting fortnightly we are all looking forward to our next meeting, on February 17th where we hope to see more of our members, and eat pancakes !
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.
We had planned to start the New Year with a quiz in our first meeting of 2023. Unfortunately the Phab member to had kindly offered to organise the quiz was worried they might pass on a cold, for flu, and we felt it was best to postpone the quiz for later in the year. The make up of out membership keeps us aware of the pressures on the NHS and the chances of infecting the clinically extremely vulnerable.
As Christmas had occurred since we last met there was plenty to talk about, and we look forward to doing the quiz in the future.
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.
Like last year, our Annual General meeting was hybrid, with the physical part of the meeting at Wesley Memorial Church. As Covid is still with us, having an online connection allowed members who could not come in person, through testing positive or other reasons, to join in. Using automatically generated subtitles allowed the chair and club co-ordinator’s words to be displayed, although some BSL signing was still needed.
Our AGMs are fairly routine, we approved the minutes from last year’s AGM, our treasurer presented the accounts, and our chair presented her annual report.
We did not present the Roy Lewis award at the AGM, but hope to do so at the Christmas dinner, which we are all looking forward to.
The Reverend Peter Powers, minister at Wesley Memorial Church, is a man of many talents, including drumming. He brought a selection of drums, mainly djembes, with him and we had a great evening, learning about the drums make different sounds depending on where and how they are hit, and then jamming along to make music ourselves !
It was an activity everyone could participate in, and revealed some unexpected talents and enthusiasms in out members. We look forward to Peter’s return for another session !
We have a tradition of playing Bingo in the run up to Easter, where our members bring Easter Eggs and other goodies, and then we play Bingo – the prizes being the treats that we have brought.
Once again Tom kindly volunteered to be our caller, his good humour and patience when we lose our place making the evening enjoyable for everyone.
As if Bingo was not enough for one evening, we had a craft session too !
We were making butterflies to be used as decoration for the Purple Extravaganza – a Fun and Fundraising Ball being hosted by Harlow Phab, to raise money for the Kelly Jackson Memorial Fund. Kelly was an active member of Oxford Phab for many years, who liked purple and butterflies, and her presence is missed.
Oxford Phab have been involved for several years in helping with the fundraising for the Wesley Memorial Church Open Doors building project. We were very happy to have a presence at the opening event.
Sonia Hicks, the President of the Methodist Conference officially opened the new Atrium and were stalls from several of the groups who use the premises, including Phab.
We also performed a signed song, ‘I wish I knew how it would feel to be free‘, boosted by church members, and enjoyed the performances by other groups connected with the church. There was also food ! It was great opportunity to mingle with other church users, and we look forward to continuing to enjoy the use of the refurbished buildings.
In a return to tradition we celebrated the approach of Shrove Tuesday with delicious pancakes, and a variety of favourite toppings.
Although opinions may differ about the best topping for a pancake, a wide variety were available, lemon, sugar, bananas, whipped cream, chocolate sauces and so on. Several members bring their own contributions to make sure that their own choice will be available, and there was plenty to go round.
