Moore and Daresbury WI By Barbara Brown Members arrived for our first meeting of the New Year eager to be reunited with friends and catch up on festive news. Greetings and good wishes were exchanged.

The meeting opened with a welcoming speech from our president. Numbers had steadily increased in recent months, our target of sixty members had now been reached. After introducing the new committee and clarifying individual roles, thanks were extended for the dedication and support, always reliably offered, which had made 2011 one of our most successful years.

A briefing of forthcoming events/activities included a visit to the Tate Liverpool to view the, Alice in Wonderland exhibition – this being of particular significance as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) was born in the Daresbury area where his father was Vicar at All Saints Church.

The Church, which houses the magnificent Lewis Carroll Memorial Window, is expecting to officially open the newly built Lewis Carroll Centre in the Spring.

The inspiring story of guest speaker, Neil Cliffe, (How I made my first million, and spent it) began when at the age of 44, after a prognosis of terminal cancer, he entered the Piccadilly Marathon in an effort to raise sufficient funding, as a thank you to his surgeon, to purchase an endoscope and relevant equipment (£9000) for Wythenshawe Hospital. This initial success escalated rapidly culminating, with the dedicated help of many sponsors, volunteers, trustees and celebrities supporting and promoting the “Buy a Brick” appeal, in eventually building the specialist Supportive Care Wing, for patients and carers affected by life limiting illness, based in the grounds of Wythenshawe Hospital. Next meeting is February 2, when the subject will be Herbal Medicine.