ADRIAN James proved to be an excellent choice as our first speaker in 2017 as his illustrated talk on the countries of southern Africa was just what was needed on a cold January evening. His photography of the landscapes of the spice island Zanzibar, the river deltas of Botswana, the deserts of Namibia , Tanzania and the vineyards of South Africa were interspersed with anecdotes relating to the history of the countries and some wonderful shots of the flowers and fauna of each country. We all enjoyed this very interesting and fascinating talk.

Our 2017 programme was available and we were delighted to welcome a new member Brenda Guest and to welcome back Veronica Cook. We hope they will enjoy all that will be on offer including the popular Knit and Natter sessions, new classes offered by Susan Lees (“Making friends with your sewing machine” ) and Jean Sullivan (“how to make a roman blind”), guided country-side walks and weekly keep-fit sessions. The skittles team is already in action with captain Ursula Key-Davies. Members were also asked to choose from a list of six, the campaign which they would like to support this year. WI campaigns in the past have included better food labelling, climate change and the one we always support at the beginning of March – Keep Britain Tidy!

J McLEISH