A glass of sherry welcomed us to our first meeting of 2004.

We welcomed new member Lesley Mackenzie and one visitor, Mrs Osborne. The minutes were read and several notices given out. Our President, Jenny Marsh, reported the death of Carla Clements. She recalled happier times when Carla had been a member of the WI and said she had always been a thoughtful, kind and considerate lady.

Ideas for our birthday lunch and days out were put forward and Mary Gray encouraged us to take part in the spring rally.

Our speaker for the afternoon was John Phillips who gave us a talk on the BBC in wartime. He brought several old recordings of wartime news, starting with Neville Chamberlain's announcement in September 1939, one of Winston Churchill and another of Frank Gillard's report of the D-Day landings.

He told us how essential it was for listeners to be able to recognise the voices of newsreaders in order that we were not getting false messages and propaganda. Wilfred Pickles' voice became well known, as did Alvar Liddell. Mr Phillips also played music as heard in factories, "Music while you work" and amusing songs like Run Rabbit Run. The radio tried to lift people's spirits during a very difficult time. Several programmes became family favourites. Tommy Handley's ITMA, Much Binding in the Marsh, Monday Night at Seven and Arthur Askey's Bandwagon. The Home Service started in 1939 and was soon joined by The Forces Programme until 1949. With the onset of war, recording studios were set up in many areas, for example Wood Norton, near Evesham, transmitted programmes all over the country.

Judy Lee thanked Mr Phillips for an interesting talk. The competition of a war time souvenir was jointly won by Margaret Neale and Jean Brettell.

Molly Berkley won the monthly raffle and we concluded the afternoon with tea and biscuits.