THE chairman opened the June meeting by welcoming Norma Pottinger as a new member.

Members were asked to sign a list regarding the outing to Cardiff in July and also whether they would like a guild diary.

The chairman reported on the national annual meeting held in Birmingham where members voted on a mandate regarding the labelling of food.

This was carried with only one vote against. But towards the end of the business meeting, an emergency mandate regarding the abolition of cheques was raised.

Members voted to keep cheques with only four votes against. The speaker at the annual meeting was Steve Cram. A full report will be published in the next edition of the Townswoman magazine.

The chairman welcomed Richard Hughes as the speaker for the day and his subject was An Apple a Day. Mr Hughes explained that he was the founder of Plan 4 Health.

He felt that lessons could be learnt from past years to keep people healthy, by forming plans through natural means.

Mr Hughes described periods through history when various remedies were used and said that Britain is the only country not to advocate seven portions of fresh fruit and vegetables per day. He spoke about Roman times where houses were built near swamps and people got sick easily. It was only when the swamps were drained that people became healthier.

In later times the government did nothing for 50 years to combat scurvy. But when it was discovered that lime and lemons given to sailors helped to cure scurvy, it became mandatory to give sailors fruit each day. He gave a most interesting and humorous talk. The vote of thanks was given by Maureen Williams. The next meeting will be the guild outing to Cardiff on Thursday, July 15. The coach will leave Richmond Road at 9.15am.