MEMBERS were thanked for their contributions and help at the hot cross bun morning, when the raffle raised £50 for the Leukaemia Research Fund.

President Brenda gave a report on the recent Annual Council Meeting, held at Malvern, which three members attended.

The highlight of an enjoyable day was an amusing talk by Graham Walton, father of girl sextuplets.

Beryl Romano was our afternoon speaker and she brought along a few teddy bears from her collection of more than 200, each one with a story.

She told us how teddy bears were named after American President Theodore Roosevelt, whose pet name was Teddy, after he refused to shoot a young tethered bear while out hunting.

The German soft toy company Steiff, which popularised the toys and their bears are now valuable collectors' items.

Beryl's bears are not valuable, she just collects those she likes, but she told of a recent teddy bear sale at Sotheby's when the owner of a museum in Tokyo paid £50,000 for a bear.