Grace Campbell, acting chairman welcomed 61 members and two visitors to our April meeting. She also welcomed speaker Becky Tinsley from the County Air Ambulance.

The new programme was circulated to members giving details of our activities for the coming year. Among these are the first outing in May to the Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley and the strolling group's visit to Lightwoods Park and Warley Woods.

The committee reports were then given including a report of the meetings of the West Midlands Federation. This included some of the events organised by the Federation in the coming 12 months ie annual lunch, harvest supper, interguild quiz and carol service.

Iris Fox then took the floor to take the secret ballot to appoint a new chairman for the guild. There were two candidates, Grace Campbell and Margaret Stonall. While the votes were checked and counted, Grace introduced Becky Tinsley who gave a talk on the services provided by the County Air Ambulance. Becky is a member of the air crew and gave us an insight into the different kinds of accidents and locations they have to attend. Grace gave a vote of thanks to Becky and presented here with a cheque for £402.25 which members had raised for the County Air Ambulance over the last 12 months.

Iris then gave the results of the vote and Margaret Stonall was elected as chairman. She thanked members and said she looked forward to serving the guild in her role as chairman.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday May 23 at the Moose Hall, Beeches Road, Blackheath at 10.30am. Our speaker will be John Smith on Musical Theatre - the year's between 1896 and 1939.