ASTLEY WI: The WI met on July 5 and once the pretty posies had been presented for July and August birthdays, the ladies who made the teas, provided the beautiful arrangement of garden flowers and raffle prize were thanked.

A trip to see The Nutcracker later on the year is being organised and as tickets go quite quickly, people were asked to sign up if interested.

There will be our afternoon tea in a member’s garden on August 2 when members and friends will enjoy homemade cakes, scones and a good cuppa. Fingers are being crossed for the weather to be kind to us!

Local lady, artistic director, Glen Walford will be the guest speaker at a lunch in October at The Holt Fleet and for the bridge players, there is the Worcestershire Federation’s Annual Bridge Drive to look forward to as well as all the other events planned around the county.

Advance notice was given for next May’s Dorothy Ellis Cup Competition, the theme of which will be a photograph entitled ‘Mothers and Babies from Nature’ so we can all be on the lookout for animals, birds and other wildlife with their young.

It was announced that we will be trialling an email newsletter for interested members which will contain reminders and news that people may have missed.

The speaker was Margaret Roy who gave an interesting talk entitled ‘Letters from a Submariner’. It was fascinating to learn how the discovery of some old letters and diaries lead to extensive research into a correspondence relationship between two people and the times in which they lived.

There is no meeting in August so Astley WI’s next meeting will be on Wednesday September 6th at 7.30pm at Astley Village Hall when ‘Hereford and Worcestershire’s First Female Paramedic’ will be the theme of Mrs. Yvonne Cocks’ talk. Visitors will be made most welcome!