CHAIRWOMAN Jenny Johnson welcomed members to the October 7 meeting.

Tribute was paid to the late Cyril Gray, who had suffered a long illness.

Cyril will be fondly remembered for his devotion and untiring maintenance of the church.

Speaker Nicole Harris spoke about the work done by the Leukaemia Research Fund.

The fund was established in 1960 as the first - and is still the only - national research charity solely devoted to leukaemia and related blood disorders, which can affect anyone at any age, male or female.

Its work depends entirely upon voluntary donations as it receives no Government support.

For every pound raised, only 5p goes on running costs.

Nicole has been involved in the Bromsgrove branch since the loss of her son from leukaemia when he was nine years old.

A request was made for knitting wool to make garments for children recently involved in the Russian school tragedy.

In spite of a gale and lashing rain, the October 21 meeting was well attended.

Colin Wheeler introduced speaker Millicent Phillips, who grew up in Redditch and was gifted with a beautiful singing voice.

She was the first pupil of the late Mavis Bennett, a well-known music teacher, and was entered in many music festivals at a young age - and won every one.

In her teens, her career progressed further in London and she could be heard regularly on BBC and Radio Luxembourg and with many well-known bands - Geraldo, Ivy Benson and Jack Payne to name but a few. She also appeared at the London Palladium and was known as the English Deanna Durbin.

A recording of Millicent singing was much enjoyed.