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Club News 2022
Ladies Christmas Lunch - December 2022
Our festive LADIES CRISTMAS LUNCH was held on Wednesday December 14th and attended by over 70 members and wives who enjoyed a colourful and traditional 3-course lunch, excellently organised once again by David and Lesley Davis. The meal was followed by a resume by Roger Gould, the current chairman, of the Probus year's events and toasts by his wife Janet to our continuing good health and, finally, with a generous raffle, giving all those present an excellent start to the festive season.
History of Isembard Kingdom Brunel - November 2022
Professor Dave Perrett gave us an illuminating talk on ISEMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL. Isembard Brunel was born in Portsmouth in 1806 and qualified as a civil engineer He first worked for his father Sir Marc Isembard Brunel, as engineer-in-charge, on the Thames Tunnel. Dave took us on a tour de force of the life and works of Brunel from his work as chief engineer with Great Western Railways, building lines from London to Bristol and beyond to Cornwall. He built the Maidenhead railway bridge in 1839 and later, Paddington Station in 1854. With an array of photos and slides Dave showed Brunel's work on the Rotherhithe Tunnel in London, the Crystal Palace in 1851 and, of course, the building of three great SS Paddle Steamers in Bristol. Interestingly, although renowned and remembered for the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, Brunel began and stopped work on this in 1830 and it was not completed finally until 1864 – 6 years after his death.
History of Whitefrier's Glass - October 2022
Our speaker, Mike Beech, talked on the HISTORY OF WHITEFRIARS GLASS, the works beginning in Temple, London in 1746 producing the widest range of glass worldwide in the same, traditional, way since the Egyptians. He took us through the process, history and types and styles over the years of glassware, vases, paperweights, and even stained-glass windows. Beautiful slides showed the wonderful colours and fabulous designs of this world-beater until fuel costs and cheap European imports caused their demise in 1980.
Mike Beech showing some examples of Whitefrier's Glass
Workskill - September 2022
At the September meeting our vice-chairman ,Doug Hill, gave us a talk on the “WORLD SKILLS” competition, something that he had been heavily involved with since winning a silver medal there in 1953. His father had been involved with the launch of this competition for talented apprentices in 1951 and entered Doug for the contest in Madrid. The talk included three films showing entrants in this worldwide “Olympic” style organisation. for apprentices from all walks of life, e.g. bricklaying, electronics, furniture making, floristry, etc
Newspaper cuttings recording Doug's story
Worldskills is an independent charity and partnership between employers, education, and governments It is a global movement of over 80 countries and supports young people across the world via competitions-based training, assessment, and benchmarking, with members’ national teams.
Wouldskills ultimately tests young peoples’ ability to achieve world-class standards in the biennial ‘Skills Olympics’. The insights gained from this training helps raise standards and creates international best practice. Thus, raising standards in apprenticeships and technical education so more young people.
The History of St. Peter's Church in Burnham – July 2022
Ian Fordyce , a lay preacher and Club member, gave an interesting talk on “ The history of St. Peter's Church in Burnham”.
Ian began his talk by informing us that, whilst the current church was built in the 12th Century, remains of a previous Anglo-Saxon church and it is thought that Roman remains preceded this but no relics have been found to date.
What then followed was a wide-ranging history of life in the realm since the 12th Century covering the many Kings and Queens, philosophers and writers, scientists and engineers that impacted on life in Burnham. Indeed, in the 18th Century there were 200 families living in the Burnham parish and stagecoaches travelling to and from London would stop over in the Swan public house. At this time it was the activity of Lord Grenville, erstwhile Prime Minister from 1806 to 1807 and living locally in Dropmore House, who had a major influence on the church He was later buried in the grounds along with his family.
The church was rebuilt in 1856 and is a fine example of Gothic architecture with superb stained glass windows showing views of the local Industrial Revolution and also views of the local Thames River. Since then a school has been built next door to the church and a memorial added in the grounds for locals killed in the world wars as well as new vicarages in 1962.
Of most recent notable occasions, we were told that both Kate and Pippa Middleton attended as bridesmaids at their uncle's wedding in this fine church. St. Peter's Church in Burnham is well worth a visit.
Ladies Lunch June 2022
June is the opportunity to invite members and their ladies to a mid-year Summer Lunch. There was no formal speaker; but the meal was followed by the Chairman, Brian Jackson, giving the members and their partners an insight to the club’s activities and a resume of the excellent speakers so far enjoyed by the club in 2022. He then invited all present to raise their glasses in a loyal toast to Queen Elizabeth II and then thanked everyone for their continued support of the club. The chairman's wife, Hilary, thanked the club for an excellent lunch and invited the ladies present to raise a toast to the members present. It was an absolute joy to see club members and their partners enjoying each other’s company and having such a a great time in a return to normality after 2 years of covid and lock down.
18th Century Hoaxes May 2022
At the May Probus meeting the speaker, Ian Keable, a historian, member of the Magic Circle and a renowned after-dinner speaker and TV celebrity gave a talk about “18th Century Hoaxes”. .He entertained the club members with a plethora of stories of incredible hoaxes and blended his talk with his own brand of stand-up comedy and bewildering magic tricks involving members of his audience. Ian spoke of engrossing stories of eighteenth-century hoaxes- such as a woman who gave birth to rabbits- and those who were duped by them including renowned celebrities such as Samuel Johnson and Benjamin Franklin amongst others. Finally, Ian commented that “Fake News” may be a modern term used today but this entertaining, eye-opening presentation showed that these concepts have been with us for centuries.
The Use and Abuse of Photographs - April 2022
A short intake of breath and we were ,once again, together for our April meeting in our normal location. After a splendid lunch we then settled into an intriguing talk from Professor Martin Parsons called “THE USE AND ABUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN HISTORY”. Appropriately, Martin began with a photo of Queen Elizabeth ll quizzing members over what information they could glean from the photo date, time, location, occasion – all this just from a photograph. And, this set the scene for the presentation as he continued with photos of paintings of Queen Elizabeth l , Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler, the U.S. Civil War, World Wars 1 & ll and , even, Vietnam questioning his audience on the visual truth of each scene and how this was often changed in the final photograph to affect our viewpoint. Interacting strongly with his surprised and, sometimes, stunned audience Martin showed how, in particular, photos of children in dramatic situations caused us to mistakenly jump to conclusions. After 40 years of working with children affected by war with many government organisations this was particularly pertinent to Martin. An excellent, intriguing and stimulating talk involving and thoroughly enjoyed by all present.
An Arresting Talk From The Cockney Detective - March 2022
The Club invited Steve Roberts, a now retired Detective Inspector in the Flying Squad of the London Metropolitan police, to give a talk on his past exploits in this eminent team.Steve began by explaining that the Flying Squad began far back in 1919 following World War 1 when there had been a large increase in crime particularly in London. A small squad of selected policemen were designated to investigate these crimes and were initially given two lorries from the WW1 Royal Flying Corps - the Daily Mail newspaper then immediately dubbed them “The Flying Squad” and the name has stuck until today. Only later, in 1927 were they issued with sports cars!
Steve had followed his father into the police and in 1976 was accepted into the London MET force and, 7 years later, following his probationary period dealing with local crimes, he finally joined the Flying Squad at Tower Bridge station. Here they were responsible for investigating large-scale financial robberies and Steve took the audience on a wonderful account of a series of stake-outs, speedboat chases on the Thames, “gunships” and significant robberies. These included the “Millennium Stone” case in 2000 and the “Christmas Tree” robbery in Orpington, Kent – which had nothing to do with trees! We heard of colourful major criminals such as “Champagne Sid” and “Henry the Rat”, all retirees yet still active in major robberies …..until caught.
Ladies Christmas Lunch December 2022
The ladies joined their partners for a traditional Christmas lunch in mid-December at The Grovefield Hotel. Following pre-drinks seventy diners were treated to an excellent three-course lunch. During and after lunch the diners were treated to a magical afternoon. Chris Wood from The Magic Circle passed around all the tables performing amusing and bewildering magical tricks under very close scrutiny. This was a thoroughly uplifting and fitting end to what has been a difficult and demanding year for all clubs and their members. The Chairman, Peter Rogers, wished everyone a safe and enjoyable Christmas and a peaceful and perfect new year.
