John Rylands Library

He says: 'Our visit to John Rylands was a huge success. There were enough of us to be split into two groups, so while one half was given a conducted tour of the beautiful building, the other half were being treated to a breathtaking display of rare books, specially brought up from the archives for us.

'Although many of the exhibits had been selected specially for their Jewish interest, there were several other manuscripts of great beauty, including a rare, hand-painted Japanese scroll. When we were asked to judge the age of a bound, annotated Hebrew text of one of the five books, we all judged the objects to be late 19th to early 20th century. It turned out to be late 15th Century. This was indeed a magical visit.

'Our popular summer walk did not prove to be quite so popular this year. Nevertheless, ten of us enjoyed a pleasant walk along the canals and byways of Macclesfield, with a welcome stop at a local hostelry for refreshments. Despite some threatening clouds, the rain held off, and we didn’t lose anybody this year.'