‘The Restoration of the Perseus and Andromeda Fountain at Witley Court’ will be the topic for speaker Derek Clarke at the meeting on Wednesday, November 27.

It will start at 7.30pm at Chaddesley Corbett Village Hall. All are welcome.

Admission for members is £2.50 and £3.50 for non-members.

Mr Clarke’s talk will highlight the craftsmanship, engineering and artistic form that makes this eyecatching centre piece the glory of Great Witley as it stands today.

The Perseus and Andromeda fountain, once reputedly coveted by Bing Crosby and Billy Butlin when it was put up for sale, is larger than the Trevi Fountain in Rome or the fountains at Versailles.

Carved from Portland stone and made to rival anything Italy could offer, it is said, in its day, to sound like the roar of a steam engine when it was fired.

A painstaking restoration carried out by English Heritage at a cost of £1 million was completed ten years when the Prince of Wales switched on the fountain with great ceremony.

A quick visit to the English Heritage site at english-heritage.org.uk/ daysout/properties/witley-court-andgardens/ garden/perseusandromeda- fountain/ will whet your appetite.

For more details about the talk, contact Rob Blakeway on 01562 777679 or email robin@hblakeway.freeserve.co.uk