COMMUNITY: Blyton Women's Institute

He enthralled his audience with anecdotes of his life from childhood, through his army service to his civilian life, some of which included Sherpa Tenzing, The Dalai Lama and Dame Ellen MacArthur.

He told how, as a civil engineer, he had built a hospital and then, ironically, was its first patient.

He said that his book came about because he had wanted to write down his life story for his children and grandchildren, however, they didn’t seem that interested.

Eventually he was advised to publish and the rest, as they say, is history.

Joan Marsh won this month’s competition for a word puzzle and lucky raffle winners were Gwen Cooper and Ennis Redfern.

The evening concluded with refreshments.