Chairman Pauline Roberts opened the meeting on Jun17.

Her opening comments related to our recent outing to Tintersfield, a National Trust property in Somerset.

Everyone enjoyed the day, the weather was kind to us and rain stayed away until we began the return journey home.

We had been joined by members of Norton TG for the day. Jean Braddock was thanked for arranging this for us.

Jean recently celebrated her 80th birthday and she was presented with flowers.

Mrs Roberts reported that our catering manager Yvonne Maddocks had a fall and broke her wrist. The volunteers, who had come to the aid of the group to take over Yvonne’s role, were thanked.

The speaker for the night was Dr Michael Bird, whose topic was Thomas Wright, Fats Waller, jazz singer who he enjoyed and admired.

Fats Waller, as he was known, was born in Harlem, where at the time, life was not easy for the American black population.

A vote of thanks was given by Joyce Coggins. The competition was a flower arrangement, which was won by Pauline Roberts. There were two raffle prizes, winners being Pat Porter and Maureen Baker.

The last meeting, before the summer break is on July 15, which will be a beetle drive.