Lesbury WI, Meeting

Eleanor, our president, welcomed everyone and cheered us all when stating that we had won £25 in the WI 100 club.

After some apologies and minutes of the last meeting had been read, we turned to our proposed summer outing – now re-named autumn outing as we are going to the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show.

Our coach was almost filled and members bombarded our treasurer with their deposits. Fingers crossed for an Indian summer in September.

Members were reminded of the village litter-pick in readiness for the Northumberland in Bloom judges’ visit.

Barry Mead, our speaker for the evening, was introduced and the laughter commenced. His talk was entitled Monkey Business At A Medieval Abbey, and there clearly had been, given some of his findings during digs: a female skeleton when females were not permitted at abbeys.

His enthusiasm and knowledge on the subject kept us all enthralled. I’m sure some of us will look with very different eyes when next we visit an abbey.

After refreshments Ann Turnbull gave an amusing account from the annual council meeting in Newcastle. All had thoroughly enjoyed the event, especially the talk about sex in the Tudor period. It made our eyes boggle.

Birthday flowers were won by Annette Ord, and the competition winner was Vera Murphy.

To end the evening, Marjorie Swindale outlined her idea for hosting a coffee morning to raise funds for our centenary. It met with great enthusiasm.