ABOUT 55 hot but happy ladies met on a lovely summer's evening at Bromsgrove Golf Centre for the July gathering of the Spadesbourne Ladies Club of Bromsgrove. It was the last meeting before the summer holidays.

The final numbers were counted for the evening dinner at the Pear Tree Inn, Smite.

Joan English reported on a very successful outing to the lavender fields near Snowshill.

The speaker, Mike Andrews, introduced himself by saying: "I am a VSO from PNG."

Having known full well that we wouldn't understand, he then proceeded to explain that he was a voluntary service overseas worker who went to Papua New Guinea at the ripe age of 62 and spent the next two years working there.

He was quite an incredible man with a great sense of humour and who obviously made himself very popular with the people he was helping.

He had been a school teacher in England before he retired and took those skills with him to Papua New Guinea. From the photographs he showed us we strongly suspect he made a lasting impression on the schools he helped to set up and run. The world needs many more volunteers of his calibre.