Our monthly meeting was held on June 8 when Pearl Prior, our president, welcomed members, as well as five visitors including a young lady from the USA.

There were three birthday girls to be congratulated. Apologies were given out by Pearl, in the absence of Dorothy Radford, who was attending the AGM at the Albert Hall with Jackie Jones.

A party of four members attended the craft day held at the Ramada Hotel, Bewdley, on May 23. Pearl found the floral art, cakes and wine etc. most interesting and clearly a lot of hard work had gone into producing such wonderful exhibits.

Andrew Lloyd, the flower arranger who demonstrated in the morning, was really outstanding.

Pearl informed us she had some Denman sponsorship sheets for those who wanted to participate in any type of activity, within reason, for example, knitting or slimming, during July. Mention was also made about the osteoporosis screening, as outlined in the County News.

We were also informed about the WI House being put on the market because it was now too costly to run. It was hoped maybe the new premises could be sited in north Worcestershire since three quarters of the membership was drawn from that area. The members were also told about a speaker's meeting to be held on July 28, as well as other forthcoming events.

An informal coffee morning has been arranged on July 30, at the home of one of the committee members so newcomers can have the opportunity to meet the committee and learn more about the WI.

Our speaker was John Letts, the sculptor who, in 1994-95, had the honour of making a bronze bust of HM the Queen for the George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton. Moving on a bit, it has to be said that the members watched, enthralled by John's craftsmanship, as he sculpted a man's head in clay.

His knowledge of anatomy helped him to bring out the defining features of the head, resulting in a Rob Roy look alike!

Our next meeting will be held on July 13 at 2.15pm.