A BUSY February meeting was enjoyed by Ipsley WI members and one visitor.

An ad hoc committee has formed to organise a members' meeting in April, several members have accepted invitations from Kingfisher WI to celebrate their 21st birthday and Crabbs Cross and Hunt End to celebrate their 40th birthday.

The annual trip to London will take place in October and an outing to Bodenham Arboretum and Ashwood Nurseries is being planned for late April.

The speaker was larger-than-life Supernumerary Yeoman Warder of Her Majesty's Tower of London, Yeoman of the Guard, the Sovereign's Bodyguard Extraordinaire (or Beefeater) Ray Sanders-Crooke, who brought slides and spoke about The Ancient Ceremonies of the Tower of London, many of which are not witnessed by the general public.

He brought a Beefeater's tunic, which was very ornate and extremely heavy - ''a mere woman could barely lift it, let alone wear it''. Mavis Walthew won the flower of the month competition with an anemone and Liz Williams won the monthly competition with her homemade tiara.

The next meeting will be held at Woodfield Middle School on Wednesday, March 9, at 7.30pm when Josephine Morgan will demonstrate Chinese brush painting. The competition will be a Chinese item.