SOME Fifty members turned up at the Old School Village Hall for the AGM of the Upwey Society at which reports were given of this past year’s events and activities.

As chairman, I commented in my report on the role of the Upwey Society in the village generally, supporting and bringing together, where appropriate, the many other organisations which provide interest for our residents and visitors.

Treasurer, Dave Mountjoy, circulated the accounts for the year showing that we had been able to make substantial donations to the St Laurence Church windows fund, the local primary school and the Old School Village Hall. We don’t set out to make a profit on our various activities, except for Open Gardens, but we do always charge just sufficient to cover our costs for the events we hold.

The constitution, planning and conservation matters were aired with particular reference to footpaths, the appearance of the village and the installation of streetlights. Very gratifyingly, a number of people came forward after the meeting offering to help improve our environment.

Carol White, our membership secretary, reported that there are now 240 households on our list, each receiving the newsletter published three times a year. Many thanks to Diane Crumbleholme, who had been our editor until recently, and welcome to Jos O’Driscoll who has offered to take on this essential and rewarding job.

We’re sorry that past chairman, Pru Bollam, has decided to stand down from the committee now and thank her for all her hard work for the Society. We welcome Gee Sutton who comes to join us. Each committee member has a specific role to play and every one is important to our success.

FUNDRAISERS have been busy at the Frank Reynolds Community Centre.

A tea and bridge afternoon, organised by Janet Buckle, raised £300 for the Weymouth Lifeboat.

The Springfields Social Club has donated £1,000 towards the cost of safety harness, play equipment and mobility accessories for the Earlybirds - a charity providing equipment and support to local disabled children and their families.

TheLipreading class, together with its associated classes in Bridport and Dorchester, have raised nearly £12,000 towards training hearing dogs for the deaf.

For information on the various activities at the Frank Reynolds Community Centre, contact Sam Hoskins on 01305 812655 or samhoskins2002@aol.com.

THE WESSEX Research Group, which is just over a year old, meets on the second Wednesday of the month in the Menzies Room at the Memorial Hall, 7.30pm-9.30pm.

The meetings take the form of talks on many and various subjects of general interest, often of an esoteric and philosophical nature, by people highly qualified in their field.

The next speaker, on Wednesday, April 14, will be Anne Donelan whose subject is ‘Cancer: looking beyond the orthodox approach’.

She will show some of the new (or perhaps very old) approaches to cancer treatment, the uses of herbs, minerals and vitamins and ozone/oxygen therapies among others.

Contact Roma Harding on 01305 816644 or spiraloftranquility.roma@virgin.net. It all sounds very interesting.

The AGM of the Broadwey and Upwey Horticultural Society takes place on Thursday, April 1, 7.30pm at St Nicholas School.