MARK Friendship Club’s first meeting of 2015 had an attendance of only 19 members due to illness.

A lot of members had gone down with flu symptoms, coughs and colds, and the freezing weather did not help.

As a result there were 20 apologies for absence.

The Christmas lunch at the White Cottage on December 10 was a success with treasurer Audrey Cox announcing that 34 members attended with £45 raised through the raffle – thanks go to those committee members who donated prizes.

Audrey decided to run the Thrift Club for another year as it has been a great success in the past.

In lieu of a speaker on the first meeting, members held a beetle drive, which went down very well considering the low attendance.

On December 17, Win Hill sadly passed away.

She was a stalwart member of the club, as was her husband, Arthur, the past chairman, who died almost exactly one year earlier.

It has been decided that at the next meeting on February 5 at 2pm the club will hold a memorial service at the church hall in memory of Win with the Rev Tonya Nixon officiating, and on that day there will not be an auction or a raffle.

All non-members are welcome to attend as friends of Win. The club’s thanks go to Gerry and Jack for all their help over the past year.