THE recent meeting at High Legh WI took place on a lovely July summer evening and was well attended with 45 members and one welcome visitor, Linda Bold.

The flowers were given to Susan Farmer as she has suffered health problems, but thankfully is on the mend.

Speaker Michael Murphy spoke about Crime and Punishment in Dickensian London.

Dickens lived from 1812 to 1870, in an era when there was no official law and order so initially ex-servicemen were constables and the Bow Street Runners.

Poverty was alleviated by alcohol. Robert Peel introduced the Peelers in 1829, which brought about more order. T he Oliver Twist story told of how young boys were trained as pickpockets. Punishment was the Gallows Prison or they were shipped off to Australia.

Little changed in his lifetime and it was an interesting look into the gruesome London at that time.

The team did well at the Cheshire Show and some of the articles that had been entered were on display.

The visit from the Link member in New Zealand was in the Cheshire News.

A trip to the Lowry has been arranged for September 25 to see the Birmingham Royal Ballet. The Ramblers are off to the Anderton Boat Lift on August 5 and walking to Marbury Park. The book club meets to discuss “Instructions in a Heat Wave” by Maggie O’Farrell.

Pat Hirst won the competition for a Dickens book with a 70 year old copy of Dickens Tales.

The August meeting will be a treasure hunt around Lymm, finishing with a meal at the Spread Eagle.

Janis Brind