Our president, Rose Chapman introduced herself and welcomed members, guests and our speaker, Susan Essex.

Susan Essex told us about her time in India in 2005 as a voluntary housemother for 26 children for Pestalozzi World. Bright children are selected from poor rural families and given a secondary education. Susan was based in Dehradun, in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Children were from India, Tibet and Nepal and English was the language spoken. We heard about the selection process, the setup within the school and the the routine. Festivals were celebrated, friendship were forged.

Susan told us how she taught the girls ‘If you want to see change, you must be the change’, encouraging them to further their education, and live their dreams.

Susan ended by telling us that her 9 months turned into a 21 year family. She is still in touch with the children, attended graduations, weddings and meeting the children’s children.

After refreshments served by Ann B and Karen W, Rose went through the business, including finances, fundraising, campaigns news and local events . We had 6 members celebrating Birthdays.

The raffle was run by Maureen and April.

The ‘Competition of the Month’ was a Christmas card – homemade, or one received in the past. Voting is by silver coins that is donated to ACWW.

The beautiful table flowers were arranged by Anne P.

We had lots of sign-up sheets for forthcoming events, including Christmas events.