AT the meeting of Salwarpe WI in September we welcomed Carol Pratt, from the British Red Cross, who spoke to us about the many and varied services provided by the group, which was founded in 1870.

Basically the Red Cross cares for people in 181 countries and provides disaster response. For example in 2002 the unit responded to 115 operations including floods in Europe and the Iraq war and in 2004 responded within hours to the Tsunami tragedy.

The British Red Cross also provides ongoing help to treat and eliminate curable diseases such as malaria and TB in deprived parts of the world.

Carol told us about its work with prisoners of war and their families and the constant fund-raising activities for the Red Cross. She also made us aware of the work done by the Red Cross for local communities including first aid training and providing first aid at events. She also pointed out the loan services the Red Cross provides to help with independent living in the community, transport services and the advice they provide for cosmetic skin camouflage.

During the evening one of our members promoted the quilting exhibition to be held in Droitwich in aid of St Richard's Hospice and hoped that members would be able to support.