TO DATE, 2009 has been very active for members of the guild.

In January, members went by coach to Brighton for lunch and then onto the matinee performance of the ice show.

Our usual New Year lunch was held at Sophies Choice, Sidcup, and was attended by 24 members.

A Federation Quiz held in February at Sevenoaks was well attended with members from around west Kent.

The guild celebrated its 40th birthday with a three-course lunch at the Bromley Court Hotel.

This was followed later in the month with a cream tea and members were each presented with a Townswomen pen inscribed with dates 1929-2009. this being the townswomen's 80th year.

A further outing took place when we visited a music hall afternoon in Dartford.

The AGM was held in April and the existing committee volunteered to stay for another year under the able chairmanship of Wynn Chubb.

The final event for the first half of the year was the Charity Lunch held in Sevenoaks which was attended by 70 ladies, and £550 was raised.

The charity being supported was the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, which gives free treatment to women with childbirth injuries who are cast out from their homes.

Some women walk almost 400 miles to reach the hospital. No-one is turned away.