Members and visitors were welcomed to our July meeting on a gloriously warm summer evening. Several July birthdays were celebrated. The President and Secretary covered all the items relating to National and County Events. The next AGM will be on the 7th June 2017 in Liverpool and members were asked if they wished to submit any resolutions. National also asked for members to offer their services to join the Board of Trustees.

Evesham Vale WI have sent an invite to their meeting in October.

The Lenches WI are having two outings in August – 9th August a trip by rail to Birmingham for a ‘city tour’ and on the 25th August a visit to the Hop Pocket centre. The date for our Christmas lunch party is Monday, 12th December – venue to be decided. Lisa then spoke about her day at WI House learning about the website and the best use of this for our WI. Most members are on the internet and this method of communication will be used more, as well as promoting our WI to a wider audience. She also reminded members of the next book club meeting on 3rd August. Gill asked members if they were interested in learning how to use the village defibrillator – many members signed up for this. Members sent their very best wishes to fellow member Barbara Forrester who is presently in hospital.

Our speaker, Yvonne Everest, spoke of how she and her husband had started making chocolate items for the gift market. We all tasted different types of chocolate and learnt how chocolate is ‘tempered’ to have the snap effect. She told us about making moulds and now they have a large range and sell their items at various venues. They hold workshops and these were shown on a short slide show. Packaging plays a big part too. Many samples were on display from woolly sheep, owls, horse heads and even screwdriver and spanner. Yvonne gave a beautifully boxed high heeled shoe to be raffled and the lucky winner was Beryl Berry. Yvonne was warmly thanked by our President. Our competition, something chocolatey, was won by Josie Witts, Gill Proops and Carol Yates. The table flowers were won by Pauline Bamber and the tea hostesses were Margaret and Jenny.

Lenches WI always welcome new members and visitors.

CAROL YATES