PRESIDENT Val Dowler welcomed members to the last meeting before the summer break. She thanked members for supplying the wonderful buffet for the Diamond Jubilee party.

Information was given for our garden party to be held tomorrow (Thursday) by kind permission of our previous president Betty Wolsey. Our summer outing will be to Boughton House on August 15. We were also asked to keep collecting jumble for a sale in September and it was agreed by all that the proceeds from these events would be used for educational purposes.

Our energetic members provided details of the miles they had walked to be added to the 600 miles already walked to the end of June. This is all for the Big Walk, Little Splash competition for our Olympic summer.

Members of Bromsgrove Astronomical Society visited us to give an illustrated talk. Rob informed us that the society had started in 2008 and now has 50 members and they meet at Bromsgrove Rugby Club. The galaxy is formed from 100,000,000 stars of which Earth is one. He showed us superb slides of the different planets which had been taken from Jodrell Bank telescope and others from space stations. These included views of the Milky Way, Seven Sisters and the Plough. We were encouraged to find binoculars and look into the sky on a clear night and be amazed at what we would find. A welcome cup of tea concluded the afternoon with time for a chat. Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, September 6, at Stoke Prior Village Hall at 2pm. If you are interested in joining us, please call president Val Dowler on 0121 4391354.