PRESIDENT Helen Ebbitt reported on the Centenary AGM, which was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The meeting was attended by HM The Queen, who addressed the AGM and was accompanied by HRH The Princess Royal and The Countess of Wessex.

Her Majesty received a very warm welcome and appeared to thoroughly enjoy herself. Helen told members that the singing the national anthem in the presence of the Queen was a rather moving and proud moment.

Guest speaker for the meeting was Susan Ord with ‘The secrets of hand writing’. Susan is a retired civil servant who studied the analysis of documents at the University of Central Lancashire.

Handwriting reflects the characteristics and personality of the writer in a uniquely personal and individual way.

Susan analysed members' handwriting with surprising and interesting results. Graphology can give insights into the personality of the writer at the time of writing, how people react socially or how a person might react to something unexpected.

Handwriting featuring circles tends to show a more relaxed writer in comparison to one who uses a more angular style. A person’s concentration skills can also be deducted from the style of writing.

Page and line spacing are taken into account in the analysis, and even the pressure on the paper is of importance to the graphologist.

Susan described the practical use of her work in forensic graphology, where she had been involved in analysing signatures, and even ransom notes.

The next meeting is July 9 at 7.30pm at Norley Village Hall with a talk entitled ‘Vale Royal Falconry’.