THE New Year started off well with a good attendance at Much Birch for a talk and demonstration by Mrs Angela Thoo on jewellery design on silver and copper.

A Christmas meeting with a difference was held at Stoke Prior when members were entertained by children from their local primary school who acted out the Christmas Story.

Mrs Yvonne Mort used dried flowers to make delicate cards and pictures and enchanged Hope under Dinmore members were enchanted with the results.

Marden's speaker was Alex Gibbon talking about the Solar System. With the aid of slides, he took members from the sun, through all the planets and their moons to the asteroids beyond Pluto. He was very entertaining and informative and they learned much about the formation of planets and what life would be like on the surface.

A Peep into the Past was the theme of the first meeting for 2004 at Withington. Old souvenirs, scrapbooks, photos and other memorabilia from Withington's past were on show and handed round for inspection.

Kingstone is 85 years old this year and a cake was made by Kathy Kerridge and enjoyed by all. Sharon Jones was the speaker from the Baptist Mission who had performed a sponsored swim to raise the £1,000 for her own expenses. This was to fund her own travel to India where she was to work with street children for a month and another £100-plus for use to refurbish and equip another hospital in the same area.

On December 8, the gift of a painting A Local Scene donated by local artist Mrs Carol Hall was presented to the new hospital, Kington Court, from the members of Almeley WI.

Mr Alan Lloyd, master at Lady Hawkins School for over 40 years, narrated the history of the Vaughans of Hergest to Eardisley. In the 12th century, there were 14 branches of the family in the Welsh Marches but it was Thomas Vaughan, the Black Vaughan of history, who settled at Hergest Croft. A descendent Margaret Vaughan, attended the court of Elizabeth I married into the Hawkins family and it was she who founded the school in 1632.

In 1706 having no sons, the Vaughan name died out and the Earls of Oxford and Mortimer bought Hergest Croft.

Antiques and Restoration was the subject of the speaker at Peterstow when Mr B R Honeybourne showed them a dining chair dated about 1810. He brought along some of the tools of his trade and explained how furniture was veneered. Making wreaths for Christmas or other purposes was demonstrated to Upton Bishop in December, some suitable for hanging and other for laying flat. Members than had a go, choosing their own designs and the results were pleasing.