ON WEDNESDAY, January 23, Cirencester Inner Wheel hosted a meal at the Royal Agricultural University for members of the Rotary club.

The guest speaker was Air Commodore Barbara Cooper CBE.

Her talk included her 40 year career in the RAF. She started off in air traffic control for seven years and later in the administrative branch.

Highlights include having served as a staff officer to the head of the RAF.

She was awarded the CBE in support of the 2nd Gulf War and was also the Commandant of the Air Cadet Organisation where she had responsibility for 45,000 teenagers. When Barbara retired she was the most senior female in all of the three British Armed Forces.

Now retired she works as a part time reservist in the RAF judging appeals for service complaints.