AFTER the silent tribute, our chairman thanked the Rev Sue Irwin for giving up her only night off in the week to attend our meeting.

The main business for the evening was to determine the programme of events for the coming year and the decision was made unanimously to not proceed with the dinner-dance at the present time.

The branch members who were present favoured the organisation of a meal out in a restaurant as has been the practise in the past two years. This has given us the opportunity to invite friends and possible new members to join us for a very pleasant social occasion.

In addition to the planned meal, we have other possible options of a social nature to consider and we hope to discuss these at length at the next meeting in March when we hope to make decisions.

With this in mind it is important that as many members as possible attend the meeting in order that we can get the feedback of popular opinion and come to a rational decision. If you can attend the meeting please do so, as we desperately need your views on the subject.

It is a fact that we are looking for new members to join us and social events give us the opportunity to enlist new friends who share our interests. As we have mentioned before, many people who would like to join us are reluctant to come forward as they have not personally served in the armed forces. Please note - you do not need to have served in the armed forces to join the Royal British Legion. Everyone is welcome and, ladies, that includes you.

So if you would like to come and meet us at any of the monthly meetings, please contact any branch member or myself and we will gladly bring you along.

As far as out-of-branch activity is concerned, branch officers and the branch standard represented us at the county annual meeting at County Hall on Saturday, January 13, which was well attended. We had a very informative talk on the workings of the West Midlands Ambulance Service. This was given by Derek Lard, the general manager. It is interesting to hear of the day-to-day problems that beset our local essential services as they go about their difficult business.

This year there will be a Three Counties Rally, incorporating Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire and the venue will be in Hereford with details to be supplied later.

The next meeting will be at Madresfield Club on Tuesday, March 13 at 8.15pm and everyone is welcome. JOHN MASON