ON September 8 chairman Jenny Johnson welcomed a large gathering of members to the first meeting of the autumn programme.

The speaker shared a memorable holiday she had taken in Japan visiting many areas including Kyoto, Nara, Tokyo, Hiroshima and others and brought attention to the unique beauty of the country with the lovely cherry blossom trees, its combination of history, temples and a rail journey on the famous bullet train.

A large collection of Japanese memorabilia was of great interest to members.

On September 11 Sharon Gayle presented the "Rose of Sharon" demonstration of her business, specialising in the design and making of Christian jewellery. Eight years ago, when Sharon's daughter was born blind, she had to make a life and career change so her working life could revolve around the needs of her child.

She had always wanted to do something creative so she joined a jewellery-making course, read books, worked in a jewellers and started experimenting, finding alternative and cheaper methods of production.

She wanted to share her interest with others so undertook teacher training which enabled her to run short courses. Her next step was to set up her own business and with the help of others she was guided towards this 18 months ago.

During the evening Sharon produced a three-strand silver ring. There were also examples of some of her other work on display.