The January meeting agenda was the AGM. Mick announced that the club was still as successful as ever and that the shows were still very popular and well supported. The treasurer told the meeting that our finances were excellent and that no increases would be made to entry or stall costs for some time. It was agreed that the club would now only have chairman/secretary, vice chairman and treasurer only. It was unanimously agreed that there was no longer be any need for any other committee members.

A good selection of finds this month. Steve brought along his antique shop find PURNELL & CO OLDE FASHIONED GINGER BEER GUILDFORD. Micky showed the rarely found GB - THE OLD FASHIONED BEVERAGE BREWED BY J LONG WHITCHURCH HANTS.

The bargain of the year must go to Dave. He went into the sales area at the household tip and found the PORTSDOWN & SOUTH HANTS MINERAL WATER, FAREHAM & HAVANT HOME BREWED GINGER BEER plus the rare slightly damaged WHITE & CHIGNELL CHEMISTS HAVANT ARECA NUT TOOTHPASTE lid. Bought the pair for £2 !!!! His last find was the small amber ink, bought at an antique fair.

Now we have a real mystery piece. This was found propped up in the roof of a thatched cottage and Micky is now the owner of it. It is a hollow piece of bamboo about 4 feet long. It has a trigger handle at one end and a pair of scissors at the other. One blade of the scissors has a step in it. Ideas ranging from cutting grapes off vines to castrating animals were suggested, but really nobody knew. Does any of our readers know what it was for?

The evenings competition was for 2 wide top milks. First was Johnny and second was Mick.

Micky also brought along the blue and amber INECTO bottles. I had no idea what this was used for but have discovered an old ad for the product. It was some form of dye for grey hair. The bottles are only about 3 inches tall, so it must have been pretty concentrated stuff. Micky's other contribution was the lovely green dumpy codd. Only problem it has no company name on it. It just has a picture of a crown with wording Trade Mark etched onto the front. On back it is embossed PATENT SAFE GROOVE, DAN RYLANDS, BARNSLEY. Bit of a mystery.

Chris has been doing a spot of digging on a 1930's dump. His finds include the MOUTARDE NORMANDE pot, the bathing belle figure and the FRUITFIELD OLD TIME MARMALADE, RICHHILL, CO. ARMAGH pot. This is one I have never come across before. It was a long way from it's Irish home. Maybe more common over there. Another of his dug finds was the APOLLINARIS, THE QUEEN OF TABLE WATERS, matchstriker. He also purchased a couple of items on Ebay - The pin cushion doll and the early pontilled plain medicine bottle.

Sid brought along three of his car boot finds. The M ELLIS BRIGHTON, with picture of bird, mineral bottle. This also has the address embossed on it - 210 FORD PLACE. This is a fairly early bottle, probably around 1860. Also the P ASHWORTH, DUCKENFIELD with cannon trade mark and the JOHN BAKER, NEWCASTLE AERATED WATERS.

John brought in a scarce local medicine J WILLIAMS, PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMIST, ALDERSHOT & NORTH CAMP. They also used Codds bottles for their minerals.