Lesbury WI, Meeting

The president welcomed everyone to the meeting and after apologies there was a break with tradition: the speaker. Tony Brown, practice manager at Alnwick Medical Group, took to the floor.

He spoke about the challenges facing the group and their aims in delivering their services, while admitting they were still a work in progress.

He took questions from members with the majority of these being centred around the telephone appointments system and the difficulty in getting appointments.

It was interesting to get an overview of the difficulties being faced by the group in what are trying times for most of the NHS.

After refreshments the possible choices for the summer outing were outlined. The current favourite is a visit to the autumn flower show in Harrogate - we shall see.

Correspondence included an invitation to a gin tasting at Cheswick WI. This sounds great fun but unfortunately someone has to drive and volunteers did not abound.

However, there were volunteers to help with a parish litter pick in April, just before the judging for Britain in Bloom.

Our president, Eleanor, had a very fruitful night as she took home the birthday flowers and had first choice from the raffle.

In keeping with the speaker’s topic, the competition was a pill box and this was won by Veronica Merryweather, she is doing very well in this year’s competitions.

Finally, before departing for home we were asked to put our thinking caps on and suggest fund-raising ideas to go towards our centenary celebrations. Let’s see what we can come up with.