ON June 14 the annual meeting took place with the election of officers as follows:

Enid Phillips, president; Doris Short, vice-president; Marian Buchanan, secretary; Joan Howarth, treasurer; Noreen Ratledge, social secretary; Betty Bullock, press officer; Irene Humphries and Brenda Williams, committee members.

A card was signed by all members and presented with a garden token to outgoing president, Aileen Burton.

On July 12, speaker Dixie Atkins talked about "Charles II - the Merry Monarch".

Dixie was a headteacher for 17 years, retired six years ago and now gives talks on several subjects.

She talked of Charles as two men, one the king and one the man.

Members were told of his life as a child and of his flight from England, travelling across country to try to get a ship to France.

Sixty people helped Charles escape and though there was a £1,000 reward on his head, no-one betrayed him.

Charles moved from court to court on the continent, trying to find support for his cause to return to England as king, which he did on his 30th birthday with 20,000 people welcoming him back to London.

During his reign, there was the great fire of London in 1666 where Charles dispatched money to help the people and also the plague, where he helped by having hospitals built.

Charles had several mistresses, one of whom modelled for Britannia on coinage, and Nell Gwynn, who had several children by him.

In 1685 at the age of 54, he had a stroke and died on February 6. His famous last words were: "Let not poor Nellie starve."

The next meeting on August 9 includes a talk by Mr Howe.