OUR meeting started on a very sad note; Cynthia had the painful task of announcing the demise of our dear member Doris Easlwood on the previous day. We all stood for a minute's silence in memory of our very dear friend. The members all send their deepest sympathy to Jane and Trevor.

On a happier note, birthday flowers were presented to Mavis. A short discussion followed about the content of the Mary Collins and Doris Eastwood cups. At Christmas instead of everyone sending cards to all members of the group we put money into a collection and sent it to Pit Stop, based at the Leatherhead Football ground. Denise read the letter of thanks which we received.

Our 'Betty from Box Hill' was presented with a photograph which was taken when several of our members visited Southern Counties Radio last year. Our speaker was Lewis Napleton, who gave a very interesting and entertaining talk on Microwaves. Lewis did his National Service un Ihe RAF and worked on RADAR After demob he went to catering college and was then employed by Lyons at their headquarters at Cadby Hall, West Kensington, on a three-year training course - later extended by six months when he got involved with the testing of microwave ovens. At the heart of the microwave set is a magnetron which generates waves which create heat. This cooking potential was discovered during 1841 by two Bntish scientists - Randall and Boot - who carried out experiments witn radar. Because of demands of the war on resources an American company called Raytheon was chosen to develop this new invention and they immediately took out patents on the cooking system! Microwave ovens were first launched in America in 1949. Lewis related several amusing incidents, including an occasion when, for the benefit of a group of food technologists, a comparison was done between a conventionally over-cooked turkey and one that was microwaved. ln answer to a lady technologist's complaint that the pale rnlcrowaved bird looked uncooked, a skewer was plunged into it, covering bystanders with the stream of juices that shot out. The lady who complained was Margaret Roberts - now Lady Thatcher. The first microwaves cost the equivalent of a small car, but now they can be obtained for under £100. We learnt a lot from Lewis's talk, especially oil safety aspects.

Anne Vine