IT was no April fool joke - 35 members really did encounter the first rain that had fallen for three weeks as they went to Bledington Village Hall for the monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 1.

The president, Mrs Hazel Furneaux, welcomed members, including one visitor, and mentioning particularly one who was returning after illness.

The secretary, Mrs Ann Wilmot, read the minutes of the previous meeting, before the president, spoke of some activities of the past month.

In March there had been one walk round Blockley and one round Gawcombe, and a pub lunch in the Golden Ball in Lower Swell, but because of the Easter break there would be no set walks in April.

Shipton WI had invited Bledington WI to join them in arranged walks this year. The WI would be involved in catering at the village fete in June, the group meeting is in Bledington on Tuesday, May 20, and the Spring plant sale is on Saturday, May 31. The WI outing to the London Eye is taking place very shortly.

A letter had been received from the chairman of Oxfordshire WI thanking the institute for the donation to the new county headquarters.

After coffee and chat, the president introduced Mrs Chris Slade, who spoke on the craft of smocking. This is a way of controlling fullness of material in a decorative way and can be used on many different items.

Mrs Slade showed Christmas decorations, cushions, lavender bags and crackers using smocking, and demonstrated the method involved. Members were interested in some smocked pictures and some were keen to start the craft immediately. There were instruction packets for sale. Sheila Truslove thanked the speaker for her interesting talk on this usual topic.

The next meeting of the institute is on Tuesday, May 6 when the resolutions will be discussed, and the competition is for a photograph of a pet or domestic animal, with caption.