THE autumn session of the circle began on September 6.

Members enjoyed a summer outing to Stockport in August, visiting the many heritage attractions.

These included the UK's only museum of the Hatting Industry, the Staircase House, a beautifully restored town house famous for its rare Jacobean cage newell staircase, one of only three examples in Britain and the largest purpose built civilian Second World War underground shelters.

Sandra Boreham, our secretary, undertook the role of TV presenter Anne Robinson and was question master to eight volunteers for the game show The Weakest Link, Linda Robbins being the overall winner.

On September 20 we welcomed a representative from the Warwickshire Energy Efficiency Advice Centre, who emphasised saving energy is good for all of us.

Using less energy means the power companies produce less, which means less carbon dioxide is produced.

If everyone makes the effort to reduce the amount of energy they use then the environmental benefits could be enormous.

In the UK, one quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions come from the energy we use to heat and light our homes and power our household appliances.

We were given sound advice how to save energy and it was interesting to learn that cavity wall insulation is much more efficient than double glazing and to turn off as many items as possible around the home and not just leave them on standby.