MEMBERS of Thornbury Guild met at Turnberries for the June meeting when, after a short business meeting, the chairman Pat Denney reported that the recent trip to Stratford upon Avon had been enjoyable, despite poor weather; arrangements were in hand for the carnival procession, the August tea party and lunch in September at Usk.

Federation news contained information about forthcoming events including the quiz on 10 August and the flower and craft show on September 19.

Pam Forrest was the speaker for the evening and she gave an excellent account of her trip to South America, which began in Panama and continued through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatamala, Belize and finished in Mexico, seven countries in all.

Some of the excursions involved early starts for bird watching, and on one occasion some 156 different birds were seen.

Pam’s observations were that Panama is a very interesting country, particularly the canal where many ships were stacked up as the locks are being extending, Costa Rica is very touristy and popular with Americans and, apart from the coast, Belize is almost totally jungle.

Rita Freed gave the vote of thanks for a most interesting talk.

Shirley Down, Pat Denney and Jill Tuck were among the raffle prize winners, and Ros Smith won the competition for a holiday souvenir.

Next month’s meeting is on July 12 when, due to a change to the programme, there will be a talk on aspects of Thornbury Castle by Meg Wise.