After our usual unaccompanied rendition of Jerusalem our president Judy welcomed four visitors and all members to the meeting after the summer break Thanks to all the efforts made by the members involved we were successful at this year’s Stroud show and won first place in the WI competition. We received good comments on our display and the very pretty cup was presented to Judy at the show itself.

Mary’s Highgrove visit, to commemorate our Federation’s 90th birthday, was a great success and Mary gave a report on her day there; she was most impressed that the Duchess of Cornwall made the effort to speak to all the ladies present. Three coaches containing 250 county members attended the event and this made for a very exhausting afternoon for the Duchess.

The most recent skittles night at Brimscombe Football Club against France Lynch was another well-attended and fun evening. As an added bonus we won the match and look forward to the next return match.

In August, Marilyn and Ann’s starters and sweets evening was blessed with a lovely evening weather wise, the lovely food meant that no main course was needed and Ann and Marilyn were thanked for their hospitality and Marilyn was asked to thank Peter for all his help.

The good news was that we had made a profit of £90.00 for funds.

This month skittles match is to take place against Eastcombe this time, on September 30. This will be at Brimscombe and Thrupp Football club, and our next social event is a theatre trip to Cotswold playhouse on September 10 (Ladies Night).

A further theatre trip to the Everyman on October 27 to see Penelope Keith in Entertaining Angels has also been arranged.

The Christmas meal will be at The Ship Inn, Brimscombe, on December 15, 2009. Jenny will visit the ship to collect the menus, price to be advised.

The display at Holy Trinity Church, September 12 and 13 will be set up by Judy, Mary, Angela and Cynthia. The date of the county walk next summer is to be June 12, this will be hosted by us, volunteers were needed to lead one 2 mile, one 4 mile and one 6 mile. Lynn and Carmel are to lead the 2 mile walk, Angela and Phil the 4 mile and Eve the 6 mile.

Judy and Pat are to coordinate the food.

Lena informed us of the latest concert for King’s Stanley choir, It is to be on October 2 at King’s Stanley Baptist Church at 7.30, price £4. All profits to charity.

We were then very privileged to have a man at our meeting and a man in a skirt at that. Our speaker John Burdon was, for the evening anyway a Roman soldier. To be accurate he is a member of the re-enactment group, the Ermine Street Guard. He was dressed as a centurion, and explained his outfit, his armour and weapons, and showed us various artefacts he would have used. John gave a comprehensive and interesting account of the day-to-day life of a Roman soldier. We found the medical equipment particularly worrying. After a most educational talk the meeting closed with refreshments.

Pat won this month’s competition, An Italian recipe, and the raffle was won by Daphne.

In October at our meeting, the speakers are to be Alfreda and Tony Court; their subject will be Villages – Frampton Mansell.