For our February meeting we had arranged a talk on Recycling in Nottinghamshire given by
the Veolia waste management company. Unfortunately, the speaker in question is retiring at
the end of January and so was unable to join us. The good news is that (thanks to our fabulous programme planning team!) we brought forward Paul Wilkins, a speaker we had booked for next year to talk to us about the
women who worked in the First World War munitions factories.

This topic is of great local interest as there was a National Shell Filling Factory close by in Chilwell!

It was really interesting to learn about their vital contribution to the war effort, the dangers they faced and how they came to be known as the Canary Girls.

Paul provided us with the following link which gives us a lot of additional information about the munitions
factory at Chilwell specifically with clear photographs:

Following the talk we had an email from Paul. Paul really enjoyed the visit and to quote
from his e mail he said ‘what a great group of ladies at your WI ‘ (we definitely agree!)