APRIL 2001 At the beginning of the March meeting thanks were expressed to Anne Bailey for instigating and organizing the interesting visit to Newport police station last month. We are hoping to visit HM Prison & Young Offenders Institution Prescoed in July. A small coffee morning was held at the home of Jane Holmes in aid of the National Meningitis Trust and names were taken for tickets for Chepstow Operatic's production of Me & My Girl. Gill Horton reported from the Group Meeting - a proposed outing to Wilton House and an Autumn gathering at Nash. Members expressed an intention to "Look into" the interesting Caerwent Internet site which had been brought to their notice at the meeting. After perusal of the County newsletter and discussion on several other business matters, Meryl Price introduced our speaker for the month, Maggie Hampton, and her close companion Virgo a hearing dog for deaf people. What a delightful, thought provoking talk and demonstration it proved to be. Maggie explained about the rigorous training both dog and human have to undergo. If you see a dog wearing a yellow jacket edged in red it is under training. Once this is completed the jacket is edged in black. Unlike guide dogs for blind people, hearing dogs are never off duty. When the alarm goes in the morning Maggie is awakened by Virgo pawing her, but if she does not immediately wake up more drastic measures of jumping on the bed and even licking the face have to take place. Other people in the house who need Maggie send Virgo to fetch her, and Virgo always fetched her when the phone rang so that she could read the message. Virgo naturally went to Maggie's place of work, and off on business trips to London and on the tube, and we all marvelled at the confidence of the pair of them. At one stage Virgo and Maggie had to go for a stint of retraining. Virgo had forgotten the implication of the fire alarm at work, and stayed curled up under the desk during a rare practice. So now they have a tape recording of the alarm and can have their own practices. Mrs Monica Randal gave the vote of thanks. At 7:30pm at Llanvaches Church Hall on Tuesday April 10th we have a lace making demonstration by one of our own members, Mrs Joan Devine. Do come and join us if you are interested.