THE monthly meeting of the Stonehouse W.R.B.L. took place at the Community Centre on Thursday, August 28.

The chairman, Janet Walsh, led the exhortation and silent tribute.

Everyone was welcomed including two visitors.

Kay Scase, the County Secretary was present and she read the minutes of the last meeting.

There were 33 members present.

Janet announced that the summer Jolly had been rained off, but that the Cream Tea in the Community Centre had raised £247.60 for branch funds.

When the business side of the meeting was dealt with, Janet welcomed Mr. David Drew as our speaker.

Our W.R.B.L. are always pleased to see David and hear him speak.

He explained how his interest in history and ultimately politics had started as a school boy in 1964 when the 50th anniversary of the First World War was commemorated.

This was done by a genuine documentary of 26 programmes, written by historians and with a commentary by Michael Redgrave.

People were interviewed who had fought in the conflict.

As David said it was a cataclysmic event, and it is imperative now to remember the 100th anniversary this year.

The town of Stonehouse lost 51 men in the war – a large proportion considering the population of Stonehouse then was around 2,000 people.

The names of those who died can be seen on the town`s war memorial.

David was thanked for his talk and answered questions.

The competition for knitted hats for sailors was won by Doreen Burford, and the hats were given to David.

The large raffle was won by Janet Pitman.

Our next meeting is on Thursday September 25 at 1.45pm, when Karen Coverdale will give a talk on Scrapbooking.

The competition is for a 'Favourite Keepsake'.

We would be pleased to welcome new members.