Bromsgrove and Redditch Club.

"Supper by Candlelight" was the unintentional start to our meeting when a power failure occurred at Perry Hall Hotel on June 14.

Our speaker, Kate Thomas, the marketing and development manager for Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, nobly began her talk in semi-darkness about the work of the trust.

She told us she was a city girl who always longed to work outdoors, so by giving talks to local groups, schools, councils and building developers promoting the needs of the environment, she is fulfilling her ambition.

She is successfully involved in publicity, gaining membership, fund-raising and education and so is really working to help conserve and restore wildlife and wild places.

The wildlife trust is a national charity with a very small staff but hundreds of willing volunteers.

There are 46 county wildlife trusts in the UK and in 1968, the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust was formed by an amateur naturalist and some interested volunteers.

In Worcestershire, there are 74 nature reserves, including nine meadows which comprise 25 per cent of all those in the UK.

Not all reserves are in the countryside.

Ipsly Alders marsh is a hidden gem between houses in Winyates Green.

When the lights came on again, Kate was able to show us her lovely slides of meadows and wetlands, rare butterflies, otters, stag beetles and many other creatures that inhabit the countryside around us.

The business meeting followed and president Jo Smith brought us up to date with the visits some members have made in the past month and plans for all coming events, including the planned visit of our friends from Neuss in September.

There was a full report of the Midland Arden Region Conference, which was a very stimulating day with a wide variety of very interesting speakers, followed by the AGM.

A grand dinner was held in the evening at which the new presidents were introduced and the exchange of insignia took place.