JUNE saw Ramon Dawes - a very Spanish name for a very English gentleman - at Middlewich and District WI.
He came to tell members about the lighter side of the food industry and after being a baker for 50 years he had plenty to tell.
Mr Dawes has travelled all over the world with his job and must have seen every method of bread making there is.
One in Iran involved baking the bread on pebbles that had to be picked off before sale, and one where the dough ended up spread on a cushion before being slapped on the side of a hole with a fire in it. And the Iranians really wanted these methods to be automated.
Then Ayatollah Khomeini came along and took their minds off it.
During the war the bakers in Stratford used to gather everyone's flour allowance each evening and make up the dough for them.
One night they forgot to put the salt in! Fortunately they managed to scrape enough flour together for everyone to have a 'proper' loaf and then opened the back door and dropped the first lot into the Avon.
The bread sank to the bottom but during the day the sun warmed the dough and it kept popping to the surface, creating reports of a great white whale on its way to Bristol!
He told members how quickly McDonalds make burger buns - six minutes raising the dough instead of six hours, and all untouched by human hand.
He had a deal going with a Manchester music shop when he was an apprentice and used to barter sticky buns for music lessons in his lunch hour.
He then gave members a great jazzy rendering of Ain't Misbehavin on his clarinet.
Members were also reminded of the bowls day out, the Lowry trip on June 30 and the strawberry tea on July 8.
At July's meeting Ellen Matthews will talk about a night in the life of an usherette. The competition is for a torch.
Everyone is welcome at the community centre on July 5 at 7.15pm. Admission for visitors is £1.30, including tea and biscuits.
