THE June meeting of Wellington and Hope under Dinmore had members sitting attentively in front of Mrs Christine Fletcher who demonstrated some simple summer deserts.

Every one a winner, and everyone had their favourites and had a recipe leaflet to take home and have a go. She described them as easy to make, but cutting all the membranes out of an orange takes practice.

Later in the month Mrs Marthe Merry gave a coffee morning for the Cobalt Research Unit in Cheltenham. Then in July the institute visited the Bannut Gardens and particularly enjoyed the marvellous display of heathers.

How to determine where the old county boundaries were proved quite a challenge to Mrs Wendy Steadman when she embarked on a tour of fifty counties in England as she told Withington members in July. Having reached her 50th birthday she decided to do something different and so she bought a motor cycle and set off with her husband to tour all fifty counties.

As there are now only 34 it was fairly difficult to define the exact borders, but with the aid of an old map she duly completed her challenge travelling over 3,576 miles.

Mrs Veronica Thackery opened her box of Pandora's wartime memories, to Holmer in July. Sent to stay in Germany by her mother to finish her education in 1939, she described how she had to return amidst the panic to get out before the outbreak of war, how she met and lost her husband who was a pilot, and joined the VAD. Later on she joined the SOE and her stories were both amazing, occasionally frightening and altogether better than a novel.

Brampton Bryan's members visited Leintwardine in July to be entertained by a theatre group who gave a delightful performance of mime entitled Pierrot and the Rose, followed by a delicious supper.

Two very different topics were the highlights of Barons Cross summer meetings. Members enjoyed Peter Faulkner's lively account of the way his interest in coracles, once common locally led him to build and travel in them. His samples of materials, techniques and finished coracles were the largest and most rugged yet seen at their meetings.

In great contrast at another meeting Eileen Dilley gave a talk entitled Edwardian Charm an account of the way her experience and enthusiasm had led to the re-creation of the Edwardian era in a B&B tearoom and craft workshop business. Members were fascinated by many examples of exquisite needlework illustrating a most enjoyable talk.

At the end of 1999 as part of a TV Millennium project Peter Jowers and his wife went to live on the Isle of Taransay for a year, along with a varied selection of people. He told Eardisley about the initial hardships arriving in a Scottish winter with their new accommodation not ready for them. They had three polytunnels, 50 chickens, three cows, a sow and piglets and a horse who had no intention of pulling a plough. The idea was to be as completely self-sufficient as possible, growing their own vegetables to make a profit by selling the surplus. However, they had to import flour, sugar and tea. A windmill supplied enough electricity for all their wants. He spoke about the beauty of the island with the sheep, deer and many birds. Despite friction living in close proximity with strangers he said he would gladly do it all over again.