Elstead Afternoon W.I. has enjoyed an eventful month, beginning with a trip to Borde Hill Gardens on 5^th June. Leaving Elstead at 10.30 am, an almost full coach-load, including several husbands, arrived to discover a bonus in store. On that day, as well as seeing the beautiful gardens set in the East Sussex countryside, a Classic Car Show featured Jaguar, Rolls Royce and Porsche vintage cars on magnificent display in three separate areas.

The `Stretch a Tenner' challenge was taken up by Jill Stewart, who held a coffee morning on June 7<sup>th</sup> including a `bring and buy' table. This event raised £104.

At the Elstead Marathon on 1^st July the W.I. traditionally supplies and runs a cake stall for charity, and this was a sell-out taking £70.20p.

The meeting on 7^th July was `bring a friend' day when seven visitors were made welcome, including Veronica Vellum who has just moved into Elstead from Seale and Sands where she was a member of their W.I.

A card of congratulations plus a gift was presented to Gillian Drew, who will be leaving the area next month after her wedding. She has been constantly involved in the activities of the W.I. and will be greatly missed, but she has promised to keep in touch.

Mrs. E. Russell gave an entertaining talk on `King Charles II's Mistresses', enlightening those members who may have slept through their history lessons, that the King was born in 1630, had fathered his first child at the age of 16 and by the end of his life had sired seventy five children by countless mistresses including Barbara Villers and Lady Alice Palmer. In order to bring some respectability to the throne, he married Catherine of Braganza in 1662 but could not resist taking mistresses at every opportunity. Mrs Russell promised part two of her talk, which includes Nell Gwynn, to follow at another meeting.

Jill Stewart, Betty Prince, Barbara Broome and Serena Gaylard provided a generous tea, and the competition for a `humorous poem' was won by Barbara Bartlett, lamenting the rumoured demise of village cricket.

Forthcoming events include the Charity Jacket Potato lunch on 12^th July, a Quiz evening on 22^nd July and the Annual Outing to Brighton Pavilion on 25^th August. The next meeting will be on 1^st September when Mr. Fernee will speak on `All Along the South Downs', and the competition is a photograph of a panoramic view.

Christine Welland

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