LITTLETONS WI had the privilege of hosting the Evesham Vale WI Group Meeting for 2016 to which members from all WIs in our Group were invited. Members having had time to talk to each other and members of the other Institutes, President June Lloyd asked Betty Jackson to lead us in the singing of Jerusalem which, with roughly sixty ladies in the Village Hall, was beautiful. Jan Titley, our Group Co-ordinator and Anne Smith, a WI Adviser, were welcomed as was our speaker for the evening, Marion Canning, whose talk was entitled “An Unusual Job for a Lady”. Secretary, Margaret Dalton, listed all groups present after which Jan mentioned various meetings in the near future for the Group. June then invited Mrs Canning to talk. She entertained us for almost forty-five minutes, without notes, on her “later in life” job as a Lady Toastmaster. She explained she had heard various male Toastmasters and decided she could do as good a job as them and set about receiving training, going on to preside over various functions – weddings, funerals, anniversary parties, dinners, presentations. Her talk was both jovial, entertaining and informative, receiving rounds of applause and much laughter throughout. She concluded by explaining her uniform (made of silk and wool) which she had specially made in Saville Row. Refreshments followed with plenty more time for members of the various Institutes to exchange ideas and then Vice President, Val Davies, announced that Childswickham WI had won the competition which was “A Flower Arrangement of Spring Flowers Suitable for a Table” appropriately judged by our Speaker. After the drawing of the raffle Val Witts and Hazel Hunter passed round drinks to Toast Her Majesty the Queen in celebration of her ninetieth birthday. Who better to propose the Toast than our Lady Toastmaster? The National Anthem was then sung and following a deep sigh of relief from the Committee for what had been a very enjoyable and successful evening we wound our way home, many guests taking the various flower arrangements beautifully made by Margaret Potter.

MARGARET DALTON