Discussion is led by one of the group, usually about a book or pair of related books that he or she loves or has read recently and which was decided on at the previous meeting.

The group is quite informal and meets on the second Wednesday of each month at one of the group members’ homes at noon. There’s a light lunch and chat, then it’s into the discussion.

The next meeting of the group is next Wednesday, September 9 at noon at the home of Elizabeth Russ, ‘Iralee’, 84 Walkom Road, Kings Plains, phone 6368 2122. Virginia De Santis will lead a discussion on two versions of Emma, the original book by Jane Austen as well as a contemporary version by Alexander McCall Smith.

If you love to read and would like to share the friendship of this long-established village group, you would be made to feel very welcome.

 Apart from broadening your own reading horizons, you’d be meeting others from Millthorpe and district who share your passion. 

THE annual church fete will be held at the Uniting Church in Spring Hill on Saturday, September 12 in the church grounds. 

The usual fete items will be available such as plants, cakes, craft, local produce, jams, pickles, trash and treasure. Bargain hunters should arrive at starting time, 8.30am, then can enjoy morning tea or the continuous barbecue until the fun finishes up at 12.30pm. 

Come along and support the local church while enjoying the company of the Spring Hill residents. 

RAINFALL measured in the Pym Street Millthorpe gauge over winter was 188.6mm, down 17 per cent on the 100-year average at the old post office site of 228mm. 

But it has been the cold days in the second half of this winter that most will remember.

At the Orange Airport automatic weather station, only 9km away, the temperature didn’t rise above 3.8 degrees on July 14 and 27, or above 4.6 on  August 6, and on two of those days snow fell on and off right through the day in Millthorpe. 

The average maximum temperature in July and August was 0.8 below average and there were some long spells of cold, overcast and windy days. The Agricultural Institute in Orange recorded only an average of 4.7 hours of sunshine a day in August compared to the average of 6.5.

Wind in August kept nights relatively warm, but in the 31 nights from June 20 to July 20 at the airport the mercury fell to or below zero on 22 of them, hitting -6.6 on July 6.

And the outlook for spring? The weather bureau seasonal forecast for our area is for daytime temperatures across spring as a whole to be average but starting cooler and finishing warmer than normal. Spring rain should be just above average but starting a bit wetter and finishing a bit drier than normal.  

Something for the Murmurs? 

Contact Laurie Williams at mm@goannagraphics.com or drop a note in at Galvanised, 17 Pym Street, Millthorpe.