THE members and guests were welcomed to the July meeting by the President Margaret Coulson.

Minutes of the previous meeting were placed on the table for members to read together with boards for forth coming events, the County Picnic August 16, trip to Shrewsbury September 8 and the Group Meeting celebrating 100 years of WI at 2pm on September 16 in the Community Hall, Lawnside, Ledbury.

The speaker for the evening was Bronwen Owens from The Wool Garden in Newent aptly Spinning a Yarn. Members were surprised to hear Nal Binding was the predecessor of knitting but this was very slow and is written of in Egypt 1000AD. After came Fulling which produced many famous items including the Monmouth Cap. The first Master Guild of Knitting was all men as women were not allowed to make money in those days. The first knitting machine was invented in the reign of Elizabeth I but she would not grant a patent as it may be detrimental for the owners of large weaving mills. Moving forward Frank Fassetts' amazing creations really had a new generation interested and now the craze is Yarn Bombing were a group of people decorate a public space in knitting to liven it up. Bronwen explained there are three types of knitting today left hand, right hand and using both left and right hands together which is the best method when doing Fair Isle or Scandinavian Stranded. Examples of these were passed around, Bronwen then passed around various types of yarn one came from milk another from banana then soya and different animals but she explained that wool only comes from sheep. Yarn comes in many ply's today so needles have to come in so many thicknesses and the manufacturers are clever that you can only use their yarn with their patterns. It was suggested members knit it the round as it is so much easier than backwards and forwards as it is all plain knitting without the need to sew together after. Bronwen then took questions from the floor and a vote of thanks was given.

Please note the next meeting on August 12 is the Summer Celebrations and members meet in the afternoon at 2pm. Please wear a long dress or skirt preferably with a decorated hat for the competition.