AT the January meeting the speaker was Jean Cholerton who gave an interesting talk about `Our Wildlife Haven on the Old Railway`, half-a-mile of disused railway line (part of the S.M.J) now turned into a wildlife haven and wild flower meadow. Also the recording of Moths and butterflies, including the demonstration of a moth lamp and box.

February: Frances Freeman`s talk `A Warwickshire Wood` gave a personal insight into history, management and firewood business of her Woodland. Members were asked to identify twigs from different trees. One set of slides showed one of the roads (known as rides) in the wood. One photograph taken each month illustrated well the changes in the woodland over a year.

March: Liam D`Arcy Brown spoke on `Chusan: The Opium Wars and the forgotten story of Britain's first Chinese Island. All attending learnt a great deal of interesting - and mostly unheard of facts of our mid 17th Century trading with the Chinese to the 19th Century, when the lovely Island of Chusan was handed back to the Chinese. Plus the bonus of his slides showing beautiful 16th/17th Century water colours of the area.

April 8th we welcome Georgia Jacobs with her talk `Geographical Inspirations in Textiles`.

We would love to welcome new members to our monthly meetings. Please come and join us at Temple Grafton Parish Hall on the second Wednesday of each month.

EILEEN TIMMS