NINETEEN members attended the July meeting of Dinton WI held at Dinton Village Hall.

The president, Sue Taylor, welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Discussions on a variety of events taking place in the future followed, including a visit to Wilton Garden Centre, a visit to Waitrose for a cookery demonstration in December and the WFWI annual council meeting to be held at the City Hall in October After coffee, the president introduced the speaker, Derek Remington, who described himself as an enthusiastic amateur in the field of butterfly recognition and recording. His talk was entitled Butterflies of Britain, and he explained there are at present 59 indigenous species of butterfly in Britain.

Although records of butterfly sightings date from the 1660s, these early records were sparse.

Collecting butterflies came to a peak in the 1950s, but it was not until the 1960s that accurate records were kept, when enthusiasts started using photography to record sightings of each species of butterfly.

Members were informed that certain butterflies were found in Wiltshire including the marsh fritillary, the adonis blue, the small blue, the clouded yellow and the brown hairstreak.

Vivian Longland thanked Derek on behalf of members for his most interesting and informative talk.

The competition was to ‘make a butterfly’ and Margaret Collins was awarded first place for her beautiful sculpture.

Sue Gillingham took second and Heather Dudley third place.

The next meeting is on Wednesday, August 13 when members will meet at Wilton Garden Centre to enjoy afternoon tea.