SEPTEMBER was an educational meeting narrated and illustrated by Peter Richardson from the Marine Conservation Society.

Peter is the biodiversity programme manager for the Turks and Caicos Islands (a British dependency) and explained to the members how they could be on the brink of an amazing conservation achievement.

They have been working with the University of Exeter and the TCI’s Department of Environment & Coastal Resources (DECR) to assess the turtle fishing since 2004.

MCS has been speaking with the fishermen for years and have now come to an agreement as to what time of year and what size turtles they could catch in future.

This was very delicate subject as turtles had been the main part of their diet for centuries. An on-going part of the project is the satellite tracking of some turtles.

This is very expensive but they can track where they go to breed. One turtle they tracked for five months covered 6,000 kilometres through waters of 14 Caribbean states. Peter then answered questions and provided members with the Marine Conservation magazine, plus other literature which informed them of other projects the MCS is involved in.

The next meeting is 7.30pm on Wednesday, October 10, at the Parish Room, Catholic Church, New Street, Ledbury.

Come and hear a speaker from The Stroke Association: the only UK charity solely concerned with combating strokes.

Competition: An item you cannot do without.