OUR Chairman commenced our recent meeting with the sad news that one of our members, Mary Ruff, has recently died.

Mary had been a member of the Guild for many years and will be missed. Our Secretary, Joyce Dawkins, was welcomed back after spending some time in hospital on the Isle of Wight after being taken ill while on holiday there.

Music group - the concert at Christchurch was well received and their next date is November 4 at St. Mary's Hall. They are now having their summer break until September, when they will start rehearsing again. Outings - Ludlow Food Festival on September 11, seven more names are needed to fill the coach. Worcester Infirmary and Museum tour on October17 - 12 people needed. For a Christmas shopping trip it was suggested that perhaps we could go to Swindon Villages. More information was given about our Christmas lunch at the Worcestershire Golf Club on December 11. Money is still being collected for the Alrewas Memorial Bench fund.

Our speaker this month was Cathy Jones whose talk was entitled Isle of Man Roundabout. The Isle of Man is very rural and has a population of about 80,000. Douglas is the main town. The people were Neolithic at first, then early Christians, and later came the Vikings. People still have boat races with Viking boats. The island is self-governing, with a Governor, and the parliament is called the Tynwald. This meets on Tynwald Hill in the open air once a year, followed by a procession. It is considered to be the oldest continuous parliament in the world. The symbol of the Isle of Man is of course the three legs, which is an ancient symbol. There are a number of distinctive Isle of Man features, the Laxey wheel at Laxey, which is called Lady Isabella, and was originally built to pump out water from the deep mine that used to be there. There is also the Manx cat, which does not have a tail and looks very different from other cats. Another well-known feature is the Fairy Bridge, where anyone who passes over it must remember to say hallo to the 'little people'. Most people will know about the TT races which were originally for cars but for a long time have been for motor-bikes, and of course there are Manx kippers ! During the First World War over 20,000 internees arrived on the island, and a huge camp was created. The same thing happened in the Second World War, and this time there were 4,000 women as well as men. Farmers had to work hard to feed everyone. A former resident of the island, in the 19th century, was Sir William Hillary who had relocated there from London after having financial difficulties. He witnessed a number of shipwrecks around the island and went out with local people to try to rescue survivors. Because of this he realised that there was a need for an official national organisation, as there were shipwrecks around other parts of the country as well, and as a result of his efforts the RNLI was formed in 1824, subsequently saving many lives.

Mrs Jones showed a number of slides of different views of the island, including the horse-drawn tram on Douglas promenade and Norman Wisdom's house, which he bought after falling in love with the island when visiting there. It was an interesting talk and revived memories for members who had been to the island in the past.

Our speaker next month will be Ruth Pole on Mercy Ships. The Guild meets on the third Thursday of the month at 10.15am at Clarence Park Village hall. Visitors are always welcome

EDNA O'CONNOR