The monthly meeting was held on 7 July, the last day for applications to be received for next year's groups. Chris Dickson reported that the painting groups would be oversubscribed, and asked for a volunteer to organise a non-tutorial gathering for those who were unsuccessful in their application.

Chris will be organising a Family History trip to the National Archive at Kew and the Family Records Centre at Middleton Street on Thursday 16 September, leaving at 7.30 a.m.

Rosemary Nicholls reported that tickets for the performance of Hamlet at Stratford on Avon on 30 September are now all taken, but there are still some seats on the coach for those who would like to go and make their own arrangements at Stratford.

There will be an outing on 13 October with City and Village Tours to explore the Sussex coast, with lunch in Worthing and ending up at Shoreham.

Neville Jennings announced the establishment of two I.T. courses starting in the autumn. There will be one for beginners and one intermediate; details in the next newsletter.

Barbara Box gave an illustrated talk on her “Sailing Adventure”: her participation in a round the world race in a 60-foot long yacht with a 15-strong crew. Barbara took two months sailing the leg from Cuba to Hawaii, via the Panama Canal and the Galapagos Islands. The boat was well kitted out, with a flush toilet, a generator for electricity and a well-equipped galley, nevertheless Barbara lost a lot of weight and never wants to see pasta again!

Cuba had a beautiful countryside and wonderful local colour, contrasting with its dark history of revolution and torture. The Panama Canal was like a narrow river, with huge locks 1000 feet long each end, which took 10 minutes to fill up.

They had three New-Year's Eve celebrations to coincide with midnight in different places, they had fortunately caught four tuna and had fresh tuna, fresh bread and salad. They crossed the line amongst the Galapagos Islands, with a ceremony presided over by “Neptune” with a crown made of milk cartons. The Galapagos were stupendous, with their black volcanic rocks, giant tortoises, friendly sea lions and marine iguanas.

Finally Barbara disembarked at Hawaii, with its American skyline and stretch limos, and flew back home. When asked whether she would do such a voyage again she said “Probably”, but she would also be quite happy pottering around the bays and inlets of Cornwall in her own boat.