MEMBERS of Andover Homemakers’ Club had a surprise ‘outing’ at their April meeting when a long scheduled fire drill practice was suddenly announced. Fortunately it was a nice spring day, and St Ann’s Hall was evacuated in good order, and the roll call taken at the assembly point.

Members were then glad to return to the hall to hear the afternoon’s speaker, Fiona Birchall, who describes herself as a storyteller.

A librarian before retirement, Fiona has gathered a collection of ancient stories from around the world, long before general education had people reading and writing, with tales that were passed down by word of mouth from travellers on trade routes across the continents as they gathered together around the fires at their overnight encampments.

The first, a tale of a merchant in Baghdad storing away green olives, was followed by a Jewish story in which a tailor sought material to make clothes for the moon, and the third involved a different kind of storyteller.

There was hush in the hall for almost an hour as the audience listened. Eileen Underhill then gave the vote of thanks for an absorbing afternoon, and while members enjoyed their tea and biscuits, there was another tale from China.

The competition was for a favourite children’s book, and many of these brought back childhood memories. (Who remembers the tiny oblong books with the stories of Mary Mouse?). The winner was Lyn Boyman with ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’ from RL Stevenson.

The club’s next meeting is the cream tea on 16 May.