It was good to see so many members in attendance at the recent afternoon tea celebration that we held at Carrs Lane for deceased members Mary Cotterill, Andrew Stubbs and Ian Cash. These three members played such pivotal roles in the success of Birmingham IA over very many years, we were delighted to hold this event in their honour. And we were delighted as well last month to hold our first ever Coffee morning in Redditch for the many members living in and around that area. It proved to be a very successful morning enjoyed by all, and we will be back. We are grateful to our member Helen Baker for recommending the Ecumenical Church as a venue, as it proved to be an excellent choice.

Just as we had established Carrs Lane as a perfect venue for a City Centre meeting venue, we learnt that the Conference Centre was closing at the end of August, another victim of Covid, together with the Congestion charge, which has made the venue no longer economical to operate. We are currently sourcing a new City Centre Venue.

We continue to be committed to broadening our appeal to our younger members and Mark Barnes and Natasha Dhokiya are already working on planning the next Young IA events. More to follow!