The speaker at the July meeting at the New Road Methodist Church was Rachel Head, supervisor of the Dudley Citizens Advice Bureau.

From Rachel we learned about the great contribution the citizens advice service makes to British society, in particular to those in need of guidance and support.

In 2012/13 the 338 Citizens Advice Bureaus in England and Wales helped over 2 million people to resolve six-and-a-half-million problems, three problems on average for each person.

Today across the country 28,500 people work for the service, of whom 22,000 are trained volunteers. The Dudley District CAB operates from four areas, Dudley, Brierley Hill, Stourbridge and Halesowen with 100 volunteers and 45 paid staff.

To become a volunteer visit www.

citizensadvice.org.uk/join-us or just ring their number.