St Catherine's Blackwell WI

At the December meeting we had our annual Christmas meal at the Barnt Green Cricket Club we enjoyed a lovely meal with entertainment provided by the Bel Canto singers.

At the first meeting of the New Year Kris welcomed everyone and introduced Speaker Jan Maycock a volunteer whose talk was about the work of the Organisation Guide Dogs for the Blind. She was accompanied by Alison Nuttall and Jumble a 1 year old Labrador Retriever. She told us how she became involved and the work done by volunteer puppy walkers also about the organisation Itself. They are one of the largest breeders of dogs in the world breeding between 1300 and 1500 dogs a year in the Midlands.They have approx 10,000 employees and approx 10.000 volunteers working with approx 8500 thousand dogs at any one time. Dogs who appear unsuitable to be trained as guide dogs for the blind are passed on to various organisations and maybe trained as hearing dogs for the deaf, support dogs for people with various disability, medical detection and police dogs and some dogs may be dual trained. There are also dogs that are more suited to be kept for breeding. A trained dog will cost £50,000 during its lifetime and the guide dogs organisation needs to raise £50million a year to cover costs.The volunteers work with the puppies for the first year teaching basic commands before they are handed back for formal training. Both ladies were thanked for coming and talking to us.

Moving on to the business apologies were read out from various members unable to attend. Jean T Amy and Sue K were thanked for providing drinks and cakes.Three birthdays this month Jules, Rosie and Sue K.The sales table was a bring and buy. The organiser from the Bel Canto choir rang to thank us for our donation to the Primrose Hospice. A board was circulated asking members to update their contact details. Thank you to the craft club whose members made a donation to WI funds after their craft sale in November. A WI questionnaire and details of this years Resolutions were both included in Nov/Dec WI News and members were asked to complete both. Margaret thanked everyone for flowers given to her for a special birthday.

Details of future events were read out and the committee are looking for help to organise future Culture Club outings.

The next meeting is on February 16 at the Wheel in Blackwell at 7.30pm, with speaker Jenny Hailstone with a talk about family history. The raffle was won by Penny and our meeting closed at 9.45pm.