THE meal out at The Retreat was well supported and enjoyable and members then had a visit to the refuse recycling plant on the old Morganite Crucible site at Norton.

They were ushered into the education room where they were shown a video and then had a talk about what they should do with their rubbish and some important points are as follows.

1 Take all tops off bottles and throw tops in the landfill as sealed bottles can explode in the machines.

2 No black plastic as the equipment cannot recognise the colour.

3 Don’t squash tins or bottles but keep them intact.

4 They cannot cope with aluminium foil so find another outlet, which may want it.

5 Shredded paper clogs the system so do not send, this can be used in garden compost bins.

Members were taken into the large factory area and looked down from a spectator gallery at the conveyor belts and machinery processing the rubbish. Difficult items were hand sorted in enclosed cabins and due to the dusty and smelly atmosphere, extractors were used to try and clean the air.

Five members attended the Spring Council Meeting at the Three Counties Showground where the speakers were Steven Thrush on breast cancer care and Stephen Leonard the television vet.

Julia has finished her three-year term and members now have a new chairman Christine Hickman Smith.

Members joined St Gabriel’s for an Open Afternoon, but as the speaker on hats was unable to come they had Yvonne Mort talking of her life in Leominster and demonstrated how she pressed flowers to create cards and pictures. She runs workshops and became enthusiastic when her daughter gave her a book written by Penny Black.

The Spires Restaurant visit is at noon on May 26 and the next talk will be Dogs for the Disabled and members will discuss The Resolution on May 11.