THE President welcomed members and one visitor to the meeting held on 12 May, along with Carla Auger from Evesham Vale WI, who will be our delegate at the National Federation Meeting in Brighton next month.

This was our Resolutions Meeting, when we had an opportunity to discuss and vote on the two Resolutions. The results will be submitted to the NFWI prior to their Annual Meeting in June. The resolutions concern appropriate care for people in hospital with dementia and avoiding food waste to address food poverty.

Other business concerned our bi-monthly lunch at the Gardeners Arms, Charlton on 20 May, the Group outing to Birmingham on 6 June and a friendly skittles match at Pershore Sports Club on 22 June.

It was then social time and we were pleased to welcome Sue Ablett to talk to us about The Falklands, a place familiar to us, of course, because of the war in 1982 in which many British and Argentine lives were lost. There are 778 islands in the archipelago and it is very remote, in the Southern Ocean and 8,000 miles from Britain. Cruise ships visit regularly, on their way to the Antarctic. Sue showed lots of slides, the first one of white sand, calm sea and blue sky, not quite what we expected, but it looked idyllic. However it is very windy, so probably not the best choice for a beach holiday. There were shots of wildlife, our favourites being the different types of penguin, and there are many other birds (ground nesting, as there are no trees), seals and sealions, all of which seem quite unphased by the approach of humans. In the 1800's the penguins were caught and boiled for oil and their population was decimated, but fortunately they have now recovered in numbers. There are also 600,000 sheep, though, perhaps surprisingly, Sue said she didn't see any of them. The current population of the islands is less than 3,000, with just over 2,000 living in the capital, Stanley. Children are educated at home up to the age of 8, at which time they go to boarding school in Stanley. Fishing is a very important industry and there is a fishing exclusion zone. All old buildings are built of corrugated tin, which is easy to transport and because it takes so long to ship things in, people need to be organised and plan in advance. It's not always possible to pop down to the local shop and be sure of getting what you need. Interestingly, though, Waitrose and Tesco brands are available in the supermarket. Mail is delivered by air. It was a fascinating talk and Sue's love for the place was obvious.

Sue then judged the competition for something beginning with 'H' . The winner was Nicky Woodcock with a Handbag and Handcream (very appropriate for WI, Sue thought).

Next month's talk will be entitled Tales from the Stones with Judy Dale and the competition will be for an item beginning with I.

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings in the Hampton Guide and Scout Community Hall at 7.30 pm on the second Thursday of each month.

CHRISTINE ROBERTSON