On April 7 president Brenda Barratt reported on her visit to the county annual meeting at the Forum Theatre, Malvern, where Barbara Gill, chairwoman of Denman College, spoke of the importance of using the college. A representative of the British Heart Foundation talked about the need to understand how vital healthy eating and exercise is, and the third speaker was Graham Walton, on his experience of bringing up girl sextuplets.

Liz Jinks reported on a visit to the Rose Theatre, Kidderminster.

The evening's speaker was Evelyn Booth, a collector of ribbon plates.

Her talk and slide show illustrated the history and development of the plates, which were popular with canal boat people, and were at the height of their popularity between 1835 and 1930, being produced in Germany and England.

Hazel Hubble's plate showing a cottage garden won the competition.

The next meeting will be at the Oaks Community Hall, Mustow Green, on May 5 at 7.30pm.