CATHERINE Best welcomed members to the March meeting of Storridge WI.

To mark the centenary of the NFWI, there is to be a Royal Garden Party held at Buckingham Palace on June 2, which will be attended by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall. Each WI has been invited to submit the name of one member to attend the event. A ballot was held to decide which member from Storridge should be invited (a first and second reserve were also selected).

A craft competition will be included in the Annual Federation Meeting to be held on October 20 at the Three Counties Showground. Mary Herbert will co-ordinate this event.

Joan Prosser reported on the results of the County Quiz. The evening was great fun with the winning team scoring 55 out of a possible 64 (Storridge scored a very creditable 43).

The speaker for the evening was David Barrie who reminded members of just how important their diet is to how they feel. His earlier career had been as a professional wine taster but in 1980, because of his interest in healthy eating, he helped to start a business selling food supplements. As a nation we struggle to eat our five a day of fruit and vegetables, whilst in Asia they avoid many of the diseases that we suffer from because of their high intake of these foods. David also explained that due to intensive farming methods in the western world, the soil is depleted of the vital nutrients that are essential for our wellbeing. This means that even if we take care of our diet, we may at times find that our bodies lack some vitamins or minerals. In fact some 28 million food supplements are taken every day. To quote the two times winner of the Nobel prize, Dr Linus Pauling “You can trace every sickness, every disease and every ailment to a mineral deficiency”. We have been warned!

The next meeting on April 9 will feature Mr and Mrs Betts showing members rare photographs of Witley Court. The competition will be your own photograph of a stately home. Visitors will be most welcome.