THE April meeting was special. President Elizabeth Ostroumoff and members helped three colleagues - Iris Rogers, Audrey Stubbings and Olive Smith - to celebrate birthdays and giving 74 years of dedicated service to Inner Wheel.

Ida Parkinson was thanked for a most successful bangers and mash evening, which had greatly enhanced the charity account.

Georgina Hunt would send the haberdashery items collected by members to the Birmingham Rotary Club to be forwarded to the Children's Aid Appeal.

She also reported the aqua box had arrived. It contained a life-saving water pump and filter but needed other vital items to fill it. Members agreed to share the cost.

It would be despatched to a disaster area next month, destination to be agreed.

Hope and Homes had also asked for support for their schools project.

The speaker was Annette Seymour. Her talk with slides on the Galapagos Islands showed beautiful beaches contrasting with extinct volcano and lava.

Galapago is the old Spanish word for tortoise and some of them weigh as much as 500 pounds.

Charles Darwin visited the islands in 1835 and there is now a Darwin Centre established to monitor wildlife. The area has been declared a wildlife sanctuary by the World Wildlife Fund.

Vice-president Valerie Pickering gave the vote of thanks. She had visited the islands some years ago and said the visit was 'out of this world'.