Wesley Memorial – Page 3

Celebrations and Art

Although Helen was announced as this year’s winner of the Paul Hope Award in December, as the announcement was done remotely via a video link, she could not receive the certificate which accompanies the award. This was presented to her tonight

We also had a small Coronation Party, in anticipation of tomorrows ceremonies.

Wesley Memorial Church is also a venue for Oxfordshire Art Weeks – with people who use the buildings being invited to create or submit works on a theme of ‘Special Places, Holy Spaces’. This sparked inspiration in some of our members –

It also kicked off some interesting discussion about what made Phab special to its members.

Chatting, planning and Jigsaw Beetle.

As it was our first meeting since Easter we had a lot of catching up to do, and sat around chatting in small groups. We also suggested subject areas for our next quiz, and in the process discovered that the game we know as Dingbats is known in other countries, and historically, as Rebus.

Helen had brought with her a Jigsaw puzzle version of Beetle, familiar to us in the drawing version, but in this variant came with four different coloured Beetle Jigsaws, each piece with a number, and needed a 1 to start the body. It provided similar fun and frustration to the pencil and paper version, if fewer opportunities for displays of artistic talent.

Pancake evening

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.

Club Night – getting together is always good

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 !

Wesley Memorial Church Party

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 postponed our quiz and chatted

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 Light Night and Games

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.

Annual General Meeting 2022

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.

An evening of Drumming.

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 !

Easter Bingo and Crafts

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.

Tom, at the controls of our Bingo machine

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.