Finstall and Cofton Hackett WI

President, Val Wheeler, welcomed members to our June meeting and Jerusalem was sung. We had several invitations – to Lickey WI's Birthday Party, to Blackwell and Burcot WI's Silent Auction, and to a Garden Party at Burcot Grange. Val asked if anyone wanted to go to the Annual Meeting at Malvern on October 18, or to be nominated for a Denman College Bursary. Our next Craft Group meets on the 16th June and the next Poetry Group meets on June 28, both at Roma's house. Val then introduced the speaker, David Julian from Act on Energy, who had come to talk about how to keep our houses warm in the winter and save energy. He told us that in our homes 35% of heat loss was through the walls, a quarter through the roof and 15% through the floor. Draught proofing could save £100 per year, double glazing and a regularly serviced modern boiler were also essential. He listed many ways of saving energy such as not overfilling your kettle and not placing furniture close to walls causing condensation. He told us that smaller energy suppliers other than the big six could be cheaper and handed out many leaflets offering advice on energy saving. While we had our tea and biscuits, David answered many questions from our members who had found his talk most informative. The competition was won by Nova with Pat Peach second and Jessica third, and Jill won the raffle. At our next meeting on July 4, Hannah Genders will be talking about “Wild Life in the Garden”. We meet at 2pm in Finstall Village Hall on the first Monday in the month