THE Launceston Stamp Club recently held its June meeting at Ladycross, Yeolmbridge with 22 members attending.

The meeting was opened by the chairman Barry Mudie who welcomed members and the dealer for the evening Kevin Webb. Following the formalities Barry introduced the speaker for the evening member John Henderson.

John’s topic for the evening was Winston Churchill. John briefly outlined significant events in Churchill’s personal life and his political career and then showed first day covers of the 1965 Churchill stamps with blocks of 4 and 6 including the different printings as well as cylinder blocks and varieties with inverted watermarks and phosphor bands. There was also a selection of appropriate postmarks shown. This was followed by a selection of Churchill commemorative stamps issued by Commonwealth countries also in 1965. Next John showed the 1974 set issued to commemorate the Birth Centenary of Churchill with examples of first day covers, traffic light blocks, PSQ cards and coin covers. John also collects coins so interspersed between stamps were coin covers and coins all depicting Churchill as well as a £5 note. A cover with a set displaying the ‘Sayings of Churchill’ was shown as well as one from Gibraltar with a miniature sheet commemorating the 50th anniversary of VE Day where Churchill is on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with the Royal family greeting the crowds below. Various notable postmarks were displayed including Woodstock, Winston, Churchill and House of Commons. It should be mentioned that many of John’s first day covers are designed and created by John himself.

Launceston Stamp Club meets on the first Thursday of each month at Yeolmbridge Methodist Chapel Hall, Ladycross. Meetings starts at 7.30pm (May to October) or 2.30pm (November to April). Visitors and prospective members are always welcome. Next meeting July 2 – Leipzig Messe.

ST Mary Magdalene Church, Launceston was filled with floral displays from porch to pulpit during the recent Festival of Flowers from June 12 to 14.

This was the third annual flower festival to be organised by Launceston in Bloom and Launceston and District u3a which attracted over forty local charities and groups to exhibit their imaginative and varied displays.

Among the exhibitors were: Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust; Bridge Church; Launceston Choral Society; North Petherwin Primary School, Rotary and Launcesston Inner Wheel Club, to mention a few.

Cllr Nicola Gilbert, mayor of Launceston, was one of many visitors to see the displays, and enjoy refreshments in the vestry – there were cakes, of course! The three-day event raised over £1,200 in donations for the chosen local charities; Memory Café, Voluntary First-Aid Service and St Mary’s Church Fund. Volunteers helped to make this year’s festival a success with special thanks going to the organising team; Jenny, Sue and Marina.

Launceston Strollers is a group that started three years ago and is for everybody regardless of age or ability.

The idea is to meet people and make new friends, enjoy each others company and go for a walk together. This is very good for both physical and mental health and strength. They meet every Monday and Wednesday at 10am at Gateway Centre. Everybody is welcome to join in with no commitment – you walk on the days you want to.

For more details contact Kay Roberts on Facebook Stroller page.

The Launceston Community Market raises money for local charities and good causes and is delighted to give £200 to the Strollers – this will help them hire transport (like the Little Red Bus) to go further afield. If you have any suggestions for the next good cause, pop in to the market on a Friday morning at Methodist Central and let them know.

A VERY interesting evening! The meeting on June 11 featured a talk by beekeeper Deidrie Conniss about bees, their biology, behaviour, and importance to the environment.

Deidrie began by explaining that while there are hundreds of bee species worldwide, humans are mainly interested in honey-producing species such as Apis mellifera, the western honeybee. She described other bee species, including giant Himalayan bees and stingless bees found in the Americas, and explained the origins of so-called “killer bees,” which resulted from crossbreeding African honeybees with South American bees.

Deidrie highlighted the crucial role bees play in pollination. Bees evolved alongside flowering plants, collecting nectar while transferring pollen between flowers, enabling plants to reproduce. Different bee species are adapted to different flower types; for example, bumblebees can access flowers with deep tubes that honeybees cannot.

The talk explored the structure of a honeybee colony, which can contain over 60,000 workers in summer. Worker bees are female, while males (drones) exist mainly for mating. Queens mate only once but store enough sperm to lay eggs throughout their lives. Colonies make collective decisions, including when to replace an aging queen or when to swarm.

Finally, Deidrie emphasised the importance of all pollinating insects, not just honeybees!

The meeting concluded with a practical beekeeping activity, where members learned about beeswax and candle rolling. Members had great fun making a candle which they took home!

A VERY special service was held at the Parish Church of St James the Great on Sunday, June 14.

The service of morning prayer was led by Hilbre Watts. One of the worship groups from Oceans Community Church in Bude had been invited to lead the traditional hymns and to introduce some new worship songs, giving us a mix of old and new.

The hymns and worship songs were: ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Be still for the presence of the Lord’, ‘How great Thou art’, ‘Goodness of God’, ‘10,000 Reasons’, and ‘Holy Forever’.

The lessons were read by Peter Hobbs and Cathy Michael and the prayers of intercession were led by the worship group.

Thanks you to Hilbre and to Oceans for leading such a special time of worship.

Coffee, cake and biscuits were shared after the service and were served by Jenny Reed.

THE monthly luncheon for June was held at Morwenstow Methodist Chapel at Shop on Wednesday, June 17, which was a damp, gloomy day.

Chicken casserole was prepared and served by Dawn Leighfield and the team. This was followed by delicious desserts, all of which were given by the people of the chapel.

The meal was rounded off with teas and coffees. Colin Tape introduced Rev Richard Ward-Smith who said Grace. There are no lunches at the chapel for July and August. There is a Celebration Lunch after the 11am harvest festival service on Sunday, September 27.

Then in October the monthly Lunches will be served on the third Wednesday of each month thereafter. A portion of the takings this month are being donated to ‘Corey’s Farm’ at Eastcott Cross.

“Surfing the skies” with Bude Airlines seems an attractive proposition, until you notice that the tyre on their aircraft’s front wheel appears to have been mended with a couple of sticking plasters. Doubts grow with the appearance of the smartly dressed but very bored airline hostess (Carolyn Head), and then the overly cheerful and inebriated pilot (Paul Constantinou).

This was the opening sketch of an afternoon of entertainment put together by Bude and District U3A’s Drama Group and presented at the U3A’s regular monthly meeting. The programme included the premiere of four separate comedy sketches interspersed with three episodes of a radio play, “The story of Evelyn and Greg”. The Drama Group meets twice a month and members create their own scripts as well as props, costumes, and sound effects.

The radio play was based on a short story by Beth Moore, who played Evelyn, and scripted for radio by Clive Hammond, who played Greg and also produced the sound effects and many of the props.

“Mixed Emotions” written by Graham Shepherd-Jones was a sketch about two couples meeting in a restaurant, while “The Imperial Hotel” written by Beth Moore featured the manager of a very upmarket hotel receiving a list of requests from a very downmarket client. The last sketch, also by Beth Moore, was “Reading the Will”, where Susan Neal appeared as the widow who was left a beach hut in Bude, while her late husband’s secretary was left an apartment in Monaco which the widow had not known he possessed. It didn’t seem things could get much worse after that but inevitably they did.

The group are due to hold two more performances in the autumn. They are keen to welcome new members, as this will expand the range of what they are able to do. The group meets on alternate Mondays in Bude at 10am. For further details on this group and other U3A activities, visit www.budeu3a.co.uk, or come to an Open Meeting at the Parkhouse on the third Thursday of the month at the Parkhouse, 2.30pm. The topic for July is ‘A short history of the Silk Roads’. There is no Open Meeting in August.