THERE was a good turnout for the first meeting of the year and everyone seemed in good spirits after the festive season.

The chairman gave a resume of the meetings she had attended about future care for the elderly. There is to be less of it apparently.

She brought us up to date on the future of the Alexandra Hospital.

The speaker was Kevin Dicks, chief executive of Redditch and Bromsgrove councils, who spoke on the difficulties faced by the councils due to cuts in Government grants and a cap on the Council Tax over the last couple of years.

Some rather hard decisions will have to be made regarding the future provision of services.

He also said that sharing services between the two councils was making savings but there was no intention to merge the two councils at this time.

To end the morning, members were able to view the DVD of Lorna’s visit to Buckingham Palace to receive her MBE with a little history on investitures.

Next meeting is on Thursday, February 13 at the Ecumenical Centre at 10am. Anyone over 55 is welcome.