The members held their monthly meeting at Stourbridge Institute on September 15 which was chaired by John Knight.

He opened the meeting by welcoming both existing, new members and visitors, and said that the speaker for the night was Alan Peace.

The president Eric Southall addressed the meeting and said how pleased he was with the annual show in all respects. The quality and quantity of produce, the number of visitors, and the general organisation, made it a special day.

He thanked all who helped with the setting up, and particularly Guild secretary Liz Hathway, Annual show secretary Tom Thompson, and John Boswell for arranging the auction. He also thanked the ladies who provided lovely cakes and teas for the event.

Liz Hathway said she was most impressed with the domestic section which was outstanding, and remarked on the number of complimentary notes left by the judge. She also said that a representative from the Air Ambulance would be present in October to receive the guilds donation, proceeds from the very successful Presidents Plant Sale.

The speaker for the evening was Alan Peace, and his talk was entitled “The barn owl, its plight and its’ future”. Alan joined the original British Owl breeding and release scheme in 1989 and has been a WOT trustee on three occasions.

He has now retired after 27 years as the Senior Warden at Himley Hall Country Park.

Alan gave a most interesting talk on barn owls in general. He also showed some slides which told the story of George the baby barn owl he raised, which became part of his family, even becoming friends with their large labrador and two cats. At one point the barn owl was in danger, due to crop spraying, which was poisoning their food source, and eventually themselves and also loss of habitat, but now fortunately their numbers are increasing.

The talk was most informative and humourous John Knight thanked Alan for a most interesting talk, and the members responded in the usual manner.

The monthly competition had 34 entries.

The first prize winners in the monthly show where as follows 7 runner beans J Knight; 2 sweetcorn J Boswell; 5 standard tomatoes J Knight ; 5 cherry tomatoes J Baker; 3 dressed onions J Boswell; 3 asters J Boswell; 3 chrysanthamums J Boswell; 1 jar of beetroot M Hodgin; 7 home made biscuits J Povey; 3 pieces of bread pudding D Castle.

John Knight closed the meeting, wished everyone a safe journey home, and hoped everyone had enjoyed the evening.

The next meeting will be held on October 20, which will be a talk entitled “Garden tools and machinery” by Ann and John Guest We meet on the third Monday of each month at The Stourbridge Institute at 7 for 7.30pm, when all visitors are welcome. For further details phone 01384 828654.