AUDREY Whitehouse was pleased to welcome a good number of members and three visitors to our November meeting. She introduced Sue Watson, the speaker for the evening, who entertained everyone with stories of her life from usherette to journalist, BBC producer, and now author.

Originally from Manchester, she studied English and Drama there before moving to Sheffield to study journalism. While working as a journalist in London she met her husband-to-be and moved to Worcester with him. Here she worked at BBC Pebble Mill, helping to produce programmes such as “Real Rooms” and “Points of View”. We all enjoyed hearing the amusing anecdotes she told us about her time there.

Her next career move was to become an author. She had decided to leave work when her daughter was ill, so writing was something she could do at home. Her first book was “Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes” a romcom which was very successful. She has since written several books all a mix of romance, comedy and cakes. Helen Roe thanked her for giving us a very interesting and entertaining talk. Sue had copies of her books for sale and these were soon snapped up.

After a break for coffee and cake there was a short business meeting. The winner of the competition for a handmade poppy was Angela Bilboe with Daphne Glover and Helen Roe second and third. The annual competition for the Craft Cup was won by Jean O'Loughlin with a lovely knitted basket of rabbits. Maureen Speight then told us about the Heritage Project with which Pershore WI is involved. We will be researching the role of the WI in WW1, particularly relating to our WI which celebrates its 100th birthday next year.

The December meeting which will be a social event is on Thursday, December 10.

Visitors are always welcome at the meetings, so if you are interested in finding out more about the WI please come along.

JEAN BARTON