PRESIDENT Margaret Coulson welcomed members and visitors to the April meeting.

During March one of two Ledbury WI teams taking part in the Herefordshire Federation quiz had qualified for the final round. They were congratulated on achieving fifth place.

Members had also enjoyed an excellent performance by the WI Gracenote choir held in Hereford.

The evening’s speaker Caroline Bellhouse was introduced to speak about ‘Orange Hairies and other Friends’.

Caroline’s talk was about the time she spent in West Borneo, where she and her partner set up the Metang Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. This involved a lot of hard work and a great variety of lovely animals, especially orang-utans – the ‘orange hairies’ - threatened by loss of habitat and poaching. It was interesting to learn how they began to improve rescue animal welfare, educate local people about the animals’ needs and put in place a volunteer programme. Her pictures of animals, especially Gus, a baby orang-utan, were delightful.

The evenings competition - ‘An Eastern Object’ - attracted many varied and imaginative entries.

The next meeting is at 7.30pm on Wednesday May 11at the Parish Room of the Catholic Church New Street Ledbury HR8 2EE when the AGM will be followed by members speaking about their favourite film.

CHRIS MULLEN