THE April meeting of the Comeytrowe and District WI was held in the Memorial Hall with many members present. Margaret Pegge took the chair in the absence of Meg Davies, who was recovering from a knee operation. Jean Jarrett was thanked for her spring flower arrangement. Further to the Institute's letter to the NFWI complaining that local members had not been consulted about either the increase in subscriptions or the withdrawal of "Home and Country", a general letter had been received from the new national chairman. She said consultation had taken place with Federation chairman and treasurers, and it was hoped the new magazine with a circulation of 200,000 would give every member an increased appreciation of how important the WI is. Advertising should pay for the new magazine. The competition for the best old map was won by Val Law.

There was to be a Spring group meeting on May 23 at Otterford. An organiser was needed for the Cottage Garden display at Taunton Flower Show. Joan Gilbert and Jan May were thanked for doing the flower pedestal at the Spring Council meeting. A letter from the League of Friends asked for support for the hospital Spring Fair on May 20. The Samaritans were appealing for more people to train as counsellors. This year's resolutions at NFWI were to be on "Renewable energy" and "Support for a healthy population". Members were asked to bring books to the May meeting for a fund-raising stall. Brian Lucas would follow a discussion on the Resolutions with a talk on choosing wines.

In the absence of the published speaker, Betty Carter, a member of the Institute, spoke on what she called "Wartime trivialities". Betty had been working for the Civil Service when war broke out, and at the age of 18 had joined the ATS and became a heavy vehicle driver. She went to Wigan for three weeks where she learnt to drill and clean out urinals and then spent six weeks learning how to drive and maintain trucks, some of up to 3 tons. She said you needed to be agile to get in and out of lorries. After training she was posted to Chilwell near Nottingham. Later in Scotland she learned to drive an armoured scout car that had only slits for windows. Betty was then posted to a camp in Burnham Beeches, where she was shown how to fell a tree using a heavy vehicle and was then involved with delivering vehicles to factories for reconditioning. After earning her three stripes Betty was promoted but did not find this as much fun as being a driver. On VE day she joined the crowds in London and ended up sleeping in Hyde Park. After demob she went to Germany where she helped in a refugee camp. She urged anyone with wartime experiences to submit them for the County archive. Betty was warmly thanked for her reminiscences by Kathleen Sunderland.

Postscript: The dinner held on April 21 to celebrate the Queen's 80th Birthday was very well supported with 62 members, partners and friends attending. Mrs Susan Marshfield gave an entertaining talk and £300 was raised for WI funds.