Archived Data

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Past Presidents
Events
Speakers
Visits
Our Members
In Memoriam
Miscellaneous

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Past Presidents

Tim Mitchell

Tim with his wife Liz. They were married 58 years ago.

Gentlemen, in review

I am pleased to say that many of the plans we put forward came into place resulting a very successful Ladies Dinner and several other events during the year. It was an amazing evening and our thanks go to Richard for organising it.

Our proposed Summer Event went ahead as planned on 14th August as planned, you can see details in the Recent Events section of this site. Our trip to Chichester Theatre to see South Pacific at 2pm on 17th August also went ahead, details are also available in the Recent Events section of this site together with pictures from previous meetings and Events.

Our Ladies Dinner was held on Wednesday 10th November at the the Warsash Sailing Club with resident caterers ‘Too much Spinach’ If network connected, you can see a short video of our evening stored on Dropbox. You can also see an updated version of the video used at the meeting which covers all aspect of our club activities.

You can see pictures from both in our Photo Gallery. Our latest Newsletters for April 2021, July 2021 and October 2021 are available online and can be accessed directly via these links. You can find previous Newsletters here.

Our monthly meeting for January was not held, we did revert to an almost normal format with our new caterer in November and December with excellent attendance levels. We have inducted new members and with guests at our last meeting are hopeful of more

Despite this and the challenges that we have faced, we have managed to have a very successful year and whilst we have sadly lost a number of members we have also welcomed several new members to the Club.

Tim Mitchell, Past President
LocksHeath Probus

Lionel Jacobs

On behalfof all the members of the Probus Club Of Locks Heath, I would like to take this opportunity to say a very sincere thank you to Graham for the wonderful way he has conducted the business of the Club over the past year.

It was unfortunate we were unable to hold our AGM as planned. I was therefore unable to stand up at club and thank Graham personally for all the help given me over the past year and all the work he has done for the Club.

Graham has been a first class president, pro active and has great enthusiasm in everything he does. He has supported every function the club has put on over the past year, he has opened his home on two occasions for club functions and has offered his home once again for our Summer Garden Party in 2020. Surely this is beyond the call of duty. Thank you Graham for a wonderful year.

The other person I would like to thank on your behalf is our secretary Colin. He has done an incredable amount of work over the past year and particulary in the past month. What would we do without him. Colin thank you for all you do for the club it is much appreciated.

It could be a number of months before we will be able to meet again as a Club. I am sure the next weeks and months will be very difficult and trying for us all. Unfortunately most of our members are in the wrong age group which puts us at risk more than most. I will try and keep in touch with as many members as possible but if you do find yourself with a problem and need help please give me a
ring and I will do whatever I can to help.

Finally, our Website is a useful source of information and will be updated regularly. It can also be used to share any items or news that you feel is relevant to other members. If you have items or news that may be of interest, please send them directly to probuslocksheath@gmail.com

Please look after yoursclves and take care.

Lionel

Graham Adams

Gill and I moved into Sarisbury Green in January 1986 and at that time we had a flat near my office at New Malden Surrey and only used the house at weekends, we also had a boat on the Hamble River. We found having three places to rest our head and maintain too much to cope with so we gave up the flat leaving me with a journey to work of a seventy five mile each way four or five times a week.

My going to the office in later years reduced down to once or twice a week although I was in contact with my daughter who was running the business on a daily basis. Gill and I found ourselves so busy with work, boating and touring in our old cars that we had very little time to integrate into the local community. When the pressure came off as we had sold the boat and business we were not quite so busy.

We had naturally developed a group of friends locally and very very much enjoy their company but it has been PROBUS that has given us an additional interest. PROBUS created a regular monthly get together for lunch with a speaker, the opportunity to help organise events, visits to local and not so local places, trips to the theatre and many other chances to meet local residents.

It has been the getting to know other locals that we have appreciated most of all we don’t mean living in each other’s pocket but to see and be recognised at the shopping centre with the occasional good morning see you at lunch on Thursday all go to make you feel part of the community, that is something that our lives in Sarisbury Green had been lacking until I was invited to join Probus Club of Locksheath.

Thank You PROBUS.

Graham Adams

Events

Probus Picnic

On a bright sunny day, Probus members, their wives and friends gathered at Graham Adams house for a cocktail prior to a ”bring your own lunch” in the shaded garden. Whether the noise was due to the strength of the welcome drink or just due to the opportunity to meet up with friends not seen for many months, that’s your guess not mine.

A magic show given by our own member of the Magic Circle, Mike Pinder, provided some light entertainment for all. It was also good to see John Robertson and David Hamilton-Rump attend the party in spite of being so unwell recently.

For many the lunch was a precursor to a visit to a very packed “Show on the Green” which was adorned with ice cream and burger vans doing a roaring trade as well as an interesting collection of historic vehicles. Plenty to see there for the whole family.

The only disappointment in the whole day…… I didn’t see a single Probus member or their wife coming down the rather impressive slides!

Once again, our thanks go to Graham and family for hosting us.

Murder On The Orient Express” at Chichester Festival Theatre

Eight members and partners/friends enjoyed a very clever production which had the front of a full sized steam locomotive in the background.

The production began with a little girl tucked in bed by her nanny. There was a scream as a man appeared in the shadows and the bed and girl disappears. Cut to Istanbul where passengers are gathering in a railway café. None recognised a ‘funny little man’ with a ’silly moustache’.

Tablecloths were whisked away revealing luggage trolleys which become dining cars.

Everyone is aboard the legendary luxury train racing through a snowstorm getting to know the suspects. Poirot astutely tries to solve ’the most difficult’ case of his career. Poirot showed a knowledge of Shakespear quoting from ‘Hamlet’ to reveal his own troubled soul and dilemma as he wrestled with his conscience. Poirot showed an intense moral sensibility as he ’solved’ the case and created a solution.

Group trip to Eastbourne – May 2022

Our first group holiday since the emergence of Covid, a group of club members and their wives embarked on a May excursion to Eastbourne.

The trip offered a visit to Great Dixter for a private tour of the house and an exclusive chance to wander round the superb renowned garden, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. This is the home of the late Christopher Lloyd OBE who devoted his lifetime to creating one of the most experimental gardens of our time.

Departing after lunch there followed a short trip by coach to the nearby Kent & East Sussex Railway station at Northiam, to catch the steam train to Bodiam, which then returned to Tenterden where we all enjoyed a cream tea whilst viewing the superb scenery of the Rother Valley and High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The next day, a free day in Eastbourne, provided the opportunity to explore the museums and art galleries, shop, stroll along the promenade and visit the lovely Victorian pier with its new walkway and facilities.

The following day? A drive into 1066 country, with a combination of coast and countryside. Visiting Hastings, with ancient churches, buildings, unique fishing quarter, museums, antique shops, narrow streets and tea rooms. Continuing on to Rye, with its quaint cobbled streets and historic half-timbered buildings for free time before returning to the charming market town of Battle, with its Battle Abbey and Battlefield.

And on the last morning, time to return home after a wonderful few days and a return to group holidays, albeit in the UK. After breakfast we followed the coastal road through Newhaven and Peacehaven to Brighton for a lunch stop before continuing the home.

A wonderful break, an opportunity to meet up with other club members and their wives and a return to normality!

Lunch at Avenue 141

Thirty six members and widows enjoyed a very good on April 1st at Avenue 141 which celebrated forty years of Locks Heath Probus.

The food and good service were very much appreciated and there was a lot of social interaction which made a great change after recent times.

Mike Cresswell thanked members for supporting the event and Gavin Hamilton Fletcher thanked the staff and students for the excellent meal.

Unfortunately we had some absentees due to positive covid tests including our President ,Tim Mitchell.

Ladies Dinner, Warsash Sailing Club

On a quiet November evening something unusual occurred……. the Probus Club of Locks Heath held its First Ladies Evening for two years at the Warsash Sailing Club.

With events such as this having not been possible due to COVID restrictions, it provided a terrific opportunity for members and wives to meet-up and exchange experiences. The general hubbub, seeing groups of people talking to others and renew old acquaintances was a site to see.

A high quality meal was accompanied by a slide show bringing back memories of events past which hopefully will be restored over the next year.

Our thanks go to Richard and Eve for organising the evening.

If network connected, you can see a short video of our evening stored on Dropbox. You can also see an updated version of the video used at the meeting which covers all aspect of our club activities.

Probus trip to Chichester Festival Theatre

On Tuesday 17th August 38 of us went to the Chichester Festival Theatre to see South Pacific. We all looked very happy to be there after having been so constrained over the past few months. The show was brilliantly done, romantic and exciting, with lots of songs we all knew and loved-Including Some enchanted evening, Bali Hai, gonna wash that man right out of my hair, younger than springtime, there is nothing like a dame.

The heroine is a young beautiful American nurse who is sweet and naïve. Despite Gina Beck being something like 7 months pregnant she managed to bring this off very well! The leading man was played by Julian Ovendon , who acted well and had a superb voice. All the voices seemed so powerful I thought they must be amplified but I couldn’t spot any microphones.

And then there was the dancing. Rumbustious vigour from the American GIs but enchanting grace by the indigenous polynesians, particularly Sera Maehara. In addition to the romantic and emotional storyline there was also an underlying message about race prejudice Including a song, you’ve got to be carefully taught to hate. Despite this serious note it was a very warm and enchanting production.

In addition to the large cast there was an excellent 16 piece orchestra.

We are all grateful to Peter and Marion Ellerton for arranging the evening.

Unlocked for a wonderful Summer Lunch in a Garage!

The formula was inspired. Have the annual Probus Summer Lunch on the same day as the Sarisbury Green Fair! Nearly all Covid restrictions were over and virtually everyone of our age group is double jabbed but people were rightly still cautious.

We needed a happy, easy, socially spaced occasion. So, what could be better than a Bring Your Own Picnic in Graham and Gill’s garage and lovely garden, followed by a very short post-prandial walk to Sarisbury Green to enjoy the attractions there?

Answer -it was perfect! Thanks to the Adams’ generous hospitality, there were 48 picnickers on 9 tables in and around the garage and a wonderful time was had by all, helped by ideal sunny weather.

Members and ladies, some of whom had not seen each other for eighteen months, were greeted with a very welcome glass of Pimm’s (and more on the tables) and had fun catching up with each other’s news on the balcony, overlooking the colourful garden. Sandwiches, salads and desserts were eaten and often shared.

Motoring memorabilia were admired around the garage. A vote of thanks was offered heartily before we gradually wandered away to the Green or to home.

Thank you, Graham and Gill!

Note: More photos can be found in the Photo Gallery section of the Website

‘Live meeting’ for Probus Club of Locksheath 5th August 2021

Nineteen members attended a live meeting in our usual room on Thursday 5th August.

As President Tim was isolating, Past President Lionel Jacobs and other members sat around a large table layout maintaining social distancing and all doors and windows were kept open.

After saying grace, Lionel gave out notices including the upcoming Summer Event on August 14th with details given by Graham to assure all 50+ members and guests coming of all the arrangements.

Other topics discussed in an ‘open forum format’ were about the planned Ladies Dinner on the 10th November to be held at the Warsash Sailing Club.

There was also a general interest in visits and holidays under consideration for 2022. John Roberson will be looking into the possibility of a 7-10 day cruise from Southampton or possibly Dover.

Chris gave details of upcoming speakers including friends of Tim who will talk about their fascinating World Tour, Angela Coaches will talk about short trips within England, and two of our members will show how they collaborated to build a detailed and seaworthy model boat during the 2020 lockdown.

Lionel emphasised the need for all members to seek out potential new members as current membership has dropped below 40. Guest potential members will be invited to our next meeting to be arranged in our normal format with lunch on 2nd September.

Members were able to share details of recent travels and all the challenges encountered during the Covid restrictions.

Lionel said he was please to have the opportunity to preside at a meeting as restrictions prevented him from only being able to do this in a limited way during Zoom meetings.

A Probus Meeting with a difference

Yes I know that all of our recent meetings have been different in that they’ve been held remotely, but this was different yet again….. no speaker was present, attendees were asked to review a short online documentary about the Team GB entry in the America’s Cup (aka The Prada Cup after its new sponsors).

You didn’t have to watch the video, but seeing that many of our members are yachtsmen, why wouldn’t you, after all you might get a few tips!

Exciting right through to the finish, the winner of the previous Americas Cup in 2017 (New Zealand) got to choose the yacht design and location for this challenge. Boats are almost identical built to meet a set of rules. The current holders qualify automatically, all other contenders race each other to determine who should get to race against New Zealand in the final.

So, what did we see? Starting with a crash involving the US team, we were given a good insight into not only the minute changes that can make all the difference between one team and another, but also the dangers involved in this sport. It’s definitely a game for professionals like Ben Ainslie who leads the GB team.

As to the race that we saw, after multiple circuits of the course the difference between the teams involved came down to a matter of seconds. The winners and hence qualifiers for the pre-final playoff? Well you’ll have to either look on the internet or watch the video yourself if you haven’t already done so.

Anyone who hasn’t seen the video and would like to see it can still view it on the BBC TV app or on BBC TV catch-up (until approximately the end of the month, February 2021 or link directly to it here.

Probus – a truly Global meeting

by Derek Treagus

On Thursday 28th January or Friday 29th January depending on which side of the International Date Lineyou live, we held a truly international Probus Global meeting on with ninety three attendees from four continents and nine countries across the world (Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England all classed as one).

A large Irish contingent, a representative from Chile and a number of attendees from the Southern Hemisphere were amongst the notable groups represented, the wonders of modern technology meaning that although we were globally separated we could all speak to each other as if we were in the same room.

We could never have imagined this in our youth (however long ago that might have been). Who said you can’t t teach an old dog new tricks (not that I’m implying Probus members are old 😀)

After a review of Probus Global status, we moved on to our evenings main speaker, Silvana Martignago, Chief Executive Officer of Probus South Pacific who took us through an interesting presentation highlighting the challenges faced by Probus Clubs not just in her region but worldwide and some of the ways they can and are being tackled.

Probus needs to be a growing and dynamic organisation focused on the future as well as today, making the most of the tools and skills we have available to us today and rising to the challenge that we currently face rather than hiding from it. Take a look at the presentation if you want to know more, you can see it here. <PRESENTATION> along with the <SLIDES> used.

Joined later by Rob Neary, Rob covered several ideas being promoted in his region to increase membership and involvement in Club Membership. Definitely food for thought for all those present.

As both Rob and Silvana said, now is the time for all PROBUS groups with membership restricted from doing its normal activities, to explore new options, engaging membership with Zoom virtual monthly meetings, international speakers, chat lines among members, organised games/quiz and Communication trees where selected members will call members to check on their well being.

So the meeting ended, some of us just off to bed for the night, some of us just about to start a new day and some of us somewhere in-between, but all of us enthused with some new ideas and, of course, some new contacts far away from home wherever that might be!

COVID 19 -A TIME TO ‘DO’ OR A TIME TO ‘SUFFER’

by Ian McDonald

The worst thing you can do during a spell of isolation is to do nothing! This can only result in boredom, lethargy, and grumbling, all unpleasant aspects of having nothing to do. The day is too long, the shops are closed and all seems lost! (but not Lost at Sea).

A friend called to see me a few months ago to examine a model boat I had just completed. It was a model of a Mirror Dinghy, built to remind me of the happy time some 50 years ago when I built a real dinghy for my two sons. He soon became aware of another issue – a substantial plan on the Dining Room table of a Victorian Steam Launch.

He looked it this with a professional eye, and asked me if l had intended to build the boat. I replied that it might well be my next project, and he then asked me if this could be a combined effort-he would do the metal work, and I would build the hull. He wanteda project to divert the gloom of Lockdown. l agreed. What a wise decision on my part. We would consult jointly, consult easily and share our abilities.

Now, it so happens that Vic (Bird) is an excellent engineer who has created a fine workshop with tools to build a battleship! I exaggerate, but sufficient to say he builds model steam locomotives within these walls. Vic is skilled – he served as an Engineering Officer in the Royal Navy as a career, hence his ability with tools.

I have a spare bedroom for my workshop, which suits me fine. We agreed that we would work together to build a boat, a vessel to be proud of. The door bell rang some days later, and I was quite amazed to see Vic holding a boiler of no mean proportion!

Opening the brass fire door I can see amongst, other items, a steam whistle (yes, I know that’s a link to a brewery) and pressure guage, everything fully insulated. I was quite spellbound and I seized the intricate boiler for the not yet started hull. The boiler looked superb. Now I was really committed to our project.

The plan was slightly inaccurate in relation to our particular model. We wanted our boat to be twice the size of the original plan, and we needed help. Now it so happened that our elder son, Neal, was at home for a few days, and he is a Naval Architect… a coincidence or fate. Either way, we were very soon back business, with a scaled plan to suit.

The hull was constructed on a keel, with ribs, planking, deck and all the other details required. We then had a hollow hull to accommodate the boiler and engine, along with a cabin, seats and rudder. Gradually and all the other items were established as the model became masted, flagged and painted and ready for sea! Well perhaps not….. the model is designed to rest on a shelf!

The whole exercise was far better than either of us could have imagined. Neither of us could be called young, l am 90 and Vic is ten years my junior. We worked together and shared the tasks. It was wonderful to have such a grand companion to work with. No grumbles, no arguments, no friction, just good will and friendship. (An echo of the Probus toast perhaps?)

None of this could have happened without the support of our two wonderful wives. They were pleased to see us happy and busy (and probably out of their hair) and we appreciated them for their willing cooperation. Thank you both.

And what now after the task is done? Why, another boat of course!!

P.S. I must tell you the name of the boat. It had to be called FRIENDSHIP.

PROBUS across the World

This week I took part in a regular Probus monthly meeting, not a lot different to normal except for the fact I did it from home as we have done recently, but in this case the meeting was run by PROBUS St. Catharines, Canada.

I was one of a number of participants from across the world using Zoom to join in with the meeting. Which makes me think “How many of us would have heard of Zoom before the virus?” In our youth we had letters, you wrote them by hand and they were delivered by postmen multiple times during the day.

There was no such thing as instant, reliable communication across the world where you can actually see the person that you’re speaking to in real time. The technology we have now is vital to help keep families and groups such as ours during contact in difficult times. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? All of us participating in the meeting have learned something new in this troubled time.

In our lifetimes there have been so many changes, perhaps the mobile phone and internet playing the greatest part not to mention medical advances. As someone who actually worked in the Computer Industry when it took a huge water cooled system and air conditioned room to run a computer like the IBM 4300 series that I worked on when starting my career in 1979. It probably had less power and memory than your mobile phone has today, the advances have been astonishing.

The invention of the Telegraph was perhaps an equivalent for generations past enabling messages to be sent in real time. These days our phone handles all that for us too, we just need to work out which emoji to use! there are so many of them. What happens if you send the wrong one by mistake? That friend may never speak to you again!

So to the meeting itself, I have to say firstly that it was terrific to be made welcome and feel included as part of the local team. As to the presentation itself everyone in it seemed to drive on the wrong side of the road. No wonder there were so many accidents to see. The maths certainly lost me, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. I’d certainly like to repeat the whole exercise hopefully hosting a meeting from the UK although world time differences would be key to making a success.

If you’d like me to summarise what happened today in one sentence, makes me think of our good friends at Disney, “It’s a small world” after all!

Editors Note: With Michael Eisner (ex CEO of Disney) his family now owning my local football team, I couldn’t agree more

Avenue 141 – March 2020

Yet another fantastic visit to Avenue 141 (our third within a year) and, as always, excellent food, excellent company and a terrific opportunity for the students to practice what they are learning with a “live” audience.

As always, our thanks to Mike Cresswell for organising this event

For those interested, details of our menu can be found >here<

Ladies Dinner (by Derek Treagus)

On a cold, frosty evening, a group of forty Probus Club of Locks Heath members, their wives and guests gathered in a cold, damp and dark garage to celebrate the annual Ladies Dinner…… except it wasn’t cold, it wasn’t damp and it wasn’t dark. It was vibrant, full of life and buzzing as everyone prepared themselves for a Ladies Dinner with a difference.

We had an excellent three course meal (not to mention the free flowing wine) followed by coffee, provided our own after dinner entertainment through Graham, Geoff and Mike and took the opportunity to get to know more about our fellow Club Members and their partners.

Everyone agreed that this was the best Ladies Dinner they had attended, unique in every way, not least through the provision of pea shooters and ammo at every table. What fun! In the old days you could say “boys will be boys”, but it’s fair to say the girls were just as bad!

Our thanks go to Graham and Jill for hosting us, a terrific Ladies Dinner and one which will go down in everyone’s memory – especially the pea shooters!

Probus Summer Lunch (by John Robertson)

On Saturday, July 27^th, seventy members and guests were welcomed to the home of Gill and Graham Adams for the annual summer lunch of the Probus Club of Locksheath. The weather was fine and slightly cooler than the heat wave of the preceding days.

On arrival we were offered cool refreshments – Pimms and soft drinks, with music provided by Vic Croft – until we were invited to lunch. Graham had adapted his capacious garage with tentage to seat all the guests, including a “staff” table for the family and other helpers. The meal had been prepared by Gill and was served by her family and friends, and it was delicious – mince, potatoes and peas, with a choice of wines, followed by a pavlova sweet course.

Graham then thanked the “staff” for their sterling work in preparing both the venue and the meal, and revealed that three anniversaries were being celebrated. The first was the date he first suggested to Gill that they set up house (laughter and applause), the second was the birthday of Chris Collier (chorus of Happy Birthday to you), and finally the wedding anniversary of Howard and Carolyn Mowbray, who stood to acknowledge the applause. Howard Mowbray then asked all preset to express their appreciaton for the generous hospitality of our hosts (prolonged applause). Finally Colin Orpe announced the games which had been organised on the lawn, and the guests moved out to the garden to enjoy table skittles, putting, golf, petanque, quoits and croquet.

The afternoon passed pleasantly with many guests participating in the games and others just enjoying the good fellowship for which Probus is renowned. Finally, Gill presented the prizes to the winners of each of the games – one for the winning lady and another for the winning gent. Lionel Jacobs presented Gill with an indoor plant and Graham with a bottle of champagne, expreesing the gratitude of all members and guests for a superb meal and entertainment.

Chichester Festival Programme 2019

Note that whilst these reports appear here in the Archive section Of the website, they can also be found on their own page here linked directly from News and Events

Macbeth at the Chichester Festival Theatre (by Tim Mitchell)

On Monday 14 th October around twenty Probus Club of Locks Heath members of went to see Macbeth at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

Unusually the theatre was only two thirds full. John Simm played the lead very well as did Dervia Kirwin as Lady Macbeth.

Much of the casting was odd. Several men were played by women. One Scottish Lord was played by a large woman of colour! (In Shakespeare’s time all the parts were played by men so maybe they’re trying to redress the balance.)

The dialogue of several actors was hard to hear particularly during the first half. Most of us found the second half clearer and easier to follow. As usual the staging was clever and imaginative.

Overall an interesting if rather challenging evening!

OKLAHOMA’ at the Chichester Festival Theatre (by Tim Mitchell)

On Tuesday 3rd September 2019 some 30 members, wives and friends went to Chichester to see their latest production of ‘Oklahoma’.

I much preferred this latest version. It was full of song and dance and energy. The dancing particularly was very high standard.

The show was originally written at a time when social attitudes were different and it does not do to dwell too much on the social and moral issues of the villain/victim, Jud, who was played this time, rather oddly I thought, by a handsome black man with an excellent voice.

Suffice to say that this was not as dark as the previous production and was overtaken by the energy and excitement of the music and dance.
This time the audience left happily, with smiles on their faces and tunes in their heads.

Plenty at the Chichester Festival Theatre (by Tim Mitchell)

The Probus party was rather smaller than usual to see Plenty at the Chichester Festival Theatre on Monday 24th June.

If it had been on tv or at the cinema it would have carried a warning about strong language, nudity and adult scenes! But it was not salacious. It was a bit hard to follow and disturbing; as the audience left at the end they seemed rather subdued.

The plot involved a young English girl who had survived harrowing times behind enemy lines in the Second World War. This profoundly disturbed her life and the lives of everyone with whom she was involved after war ended. So pretty intense stuff.

Our next excursion is to Oklahoma, which should be something of a relief.

Shadowlands at the Chichester Festival Theatre (by Graham Adams)

Eighteen of our members and Ladies went to Chichester Theatre on Tuesday 21^stMay to an outstanding performance by the cast of Shadowlands.

Was it provocative or offensive is a matter of personal opinion but undeniably it was a superb performance lead by Hugh Bonneville. The tragic love story of C S Lewis and Joy Gresham was not only captivating but beautifully presented.

The line between provocation and offence is a very fine one however the audience was spell bound throughout with just enough humour to provide light relief when necessary. Gill and I loved it and we think everyone should at least give it a try.

Thank you Peter for organising the tickets.

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Guest Speakers

Cooking for the rich and famous, running Faulty Towers by Susan Howe

During an extraordinarily colourful life, Susan worked as P.A. to Sir John Betjeman, cooked for Brigitte Bardot’s ex, Gunter Sachs, in St. Moritz and owned award-winning country house hotels.

Her abiding passion is history! She has a phenomenal memory for quirky and unusual facts, many of which she chose to share with us during her talk. She is a qualified London Tourist Board Guide and has toured with an amazing array of specialist groups ranging from Mills and Boon authors specialising in the risqué Regency period, to escorting the 200- strong Yale Alumni Choir in the UK and overseas. Working alongside specialist lecturers she has taken Painting Tours to Zanzibar, Riding Tours in the Rockies, Wildlife Tours in Africa and Tiger Tours to the jungles of India.

As demonstrated in In her talk to us, Susan firmly believes in entertaining as well as informing. Her Talks are given without slides and anywhere in the UK. What marks her out as different is the funny, individual conversational way that she speaks without notes, her enthusiasm is contagious.

Our talk today provided further insight to her very varied life starting when with no qualifications she ended up as cook on board a luxury yacht meeting many famous celebrities of the day through to running her and her husband’s own hotel.

She recounted her meetings with famous politicians as well as famous celebrities including both Colyn Powell and Paddy Ashdown. When running hotels she had the cast of Poirot staying at the hotel with David Suchet keeping a Poirot accent throughout his stay.

To quote Susan “everything that happened to Basil Fawlty happened to us. If you want to find out more about Susan and her talks, just click here

The Worldwide System by Mike Pinder

A talk by our resident Magician, Hovercraft Pioneer, Dr Who actor and Writer with his latest book soon to be published, this talk would reveal another story to be covered in his soon to be published book.

As those of you who have read my article on Mike and his involvement with Hovercraft will realise, he is a man of many talents, an inventor and a pragmatist who can make things work, not to mention his on screen role in Dr Who all of which can be seen in the Probus article referred to above.

In the meantime, if anyone who was at the talk would like to send a summary to probuslocksheath@gmail.com I’d be very grateful.

HM Yacht Britannia by Dave Russell

A fascinating presentation at a vey poignant time in light of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s recent passing. As I was not at the meeting the following information is provided by Wikipedia.

The text and pictures from Wikipedia provide an excellent introduction to today’s talk.

Her Majesty’s Yacht Britannia, also known as the Royal Yacht Britannia, is the former royal yacht of the British monarchy. She was in service from 1954 until 1997. She was the 83rd such vessel since King Charles II acceded to the throne in 1660, and is the second royal yacht to bear the name, the first being the racing cutter built for the Prince of Wales in 1893. During her 43-year career, the yacht travelled more than a million nautical miles around the world.

HMY Britannia was built at the shipyard of John Brown & Co. Ltd in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire. She was launched by Queen Elizabeth II on 16 April 1953, and commissioned on 11 January 1954. The ship was designed with three masts: a 133-foot (41 m) foremast, a 139-foot (42 m) mainmast, and a 118-foot (36 m) mizzenmast.

The top aerial on the foremast and the top 20 feet (6.1 m) of the mainmast were hinged to allow the ship to pass under bridges.

Britannia was designed to be converted into a hospital ship in time of war, although this capability was never used. In the event of nuclear war, it was intended for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to take refuge aboard Britannia off the north-west coast of Scotland.

Now retired from royal service, Britannia is permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal, Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a popular visitor attraction with over 300,000 visits each year.

P is for Prostate by Alan Jones

Trying to be “correct”, Alan said his talk was to those with a prostate. This prompted for one member to say he no longer had one !

He described, with the aid of 3D models (in the picture), the plumbing set up between the kidneys to outlet from the body, and how the prostate managed everything like it was Clapham Junction.

Rubber gloves, fingers, and our own President all helped get the message across!

The talk was very well received and prompted many questions at the end.

If you want further information on Prostate Cancer, you may find the following links useful:

From the New Forest to Salt Lake City by Gill Southwell

The audience may have been expecting a talk on the Mormons (which some of the members thought a strange idea for a Probus meeting), however the reality turned out to be completely different and a much more personal story.

Gill started by reviewing the history and beliefs of the Mormons and told how some of her ancestors did indeed become Mormons for a short while travelling to Salt Lake City in Utah. After a few years they left the Church of the Latter Day Saints and returned to the New Forest, but why? What was the story behind this?

Gill’s ancestor, George Light and his wife Lucy Ann, had heard some of the Mormons preaching, which is what made them join the church and travel to Salt Lake City. The Mormons chose to settle in Utah, which in the early 19th century was not a part of the United States of America. Meaning that when church members were starting to find it difficult to live in the USA they could settle in Utah.

These journeys were very difficult in the early 1850s, but the family survived two transatlantic voyages (there and back) and the journey, by river boat and wagon train to Salt Lake City from New Orleans where they had landed in America. They completed the journey in reverse on their return to England.

It was Gill’s interest in researching her family history and work done researching her ancestors, most of it initially online or in record offices, that led to her planning a visit to Salt Lake City herself. This enabled her to do further investigation into her family tree and verify her family connections providing interesting new information.

Her ancestors remained in the Mormons for only four years, but why? In 1856 the Mormons carried out their own census to make sure everyone was following the Mormon rules. They were also having difficulty maintaining food and water supplies. They only wanted true believers, most notably they insisted that men should have multiple wives.

Some did not agree with and left the church – among them was the Light family who returned to the New Forest. When settled again they joined the Anglican Church and were baptised.

Editor’s Note: As many of you will know, the Mormon church is a great source of information if you are tracing your own family tree, I used it myself back in the 1980s to trace my own tree and was fortunate to come across a distant relative who had done much research before me and traced the family back to 1723.

The name Treagus itself is a derivative of Tregoze, which can be traced back to 1066 when Baron Tregoze came to England with his friend Will for a short holiday, the original name therefore coming from France.

Walking the Camino (Vic Bird)

Recently completed by Vic Bird and previously by Jim Dodd and Derek Treagus, walking the Camino is very much both a personal challenge and a personal achievement, but what are the origins of this walk?

In the 9th century the tomb of the apostle St James was unearthed in Compostela. The site became the focus of a pilgrim trail beginning in France and crossing Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela.

While there are many different routes to Santiago de Compostela, the most well known of the Camino de Santiago walks (also known as the Compostela Trail or Way of St James) are in Spain and France. With so many options available it can be confusing for the modern day traveller to know exactly which one they should do.

Many Camino pilgrims choose to experience the final stage of the Camino de Santiago. Walking the last section of the Camino is very popular as it enables to collect your Compostela (Pilgrim’s Certificate) as the Pilgrim’s Reception Office, the official service behind Camino credentials, states that pilgrims need to walk at least 100km or 62 miles of the Camino de Santiago to be eligible for the Compostela.

Pilgrims are supposed to bring a rock along with them on their Camino, ideally choosing one from their place of origin. It seems as though this rock can represent a lot. Often, pilgrims carry a rock in honor of someone: someone who has passed away, someone they have lost, someone whose memory they hold onto.

The walk does not have to be completed in a set number of days but must, at a minimum, cover the whole 100km trail with proof provided by stamps added to your Pilgrim’s Passport (at least two per day) which, along with your Completion Certificate, becomes a great memento of your journey.

You will meet many people on the way, exchanging the pilgrims call of “Buen Camino” with them all (the phrase means “Good Way: “Buen” meaning good and “Camino” meaning way). It’s a simple, cross-cultural way to wish your fellow pilgrims well on their walk and return home with a terrific set of memories and achievements.

If you are interested, completed by Derek Treagus, Jim Dodd an fourteen other Pilgrims, you can find details of their Camino de Santiago walk in 2019 by following this link

The Children’s Society by Ian Combs

Extracted from Wikipedia, this provides a very good summary of today’s talk

The Children’s Society was founded in the late nineteenth century by Edward Rudolf, a Sunday School teacher and civil servant in South London. Rudolf led a deputation to Archibald Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury to put forward a plan for the establishment of Church of England children’s homes as an alternative to the large workhouses and orphanages common at that time.

In 1881, a new organisation was registered as the Church of England Central Home for Waifs and Strays, taking the name Church of England Incorporated Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays in 1893. It kept this name until 1946, when the title was changed to the Church of England Children’s Society and adopted the informal title of The Children’s Society in 1982.

The first home was opened in Dulwich in 1882. Its success, together with a growing awareness of the scale of child poverty in England and Wales, led to the rapid development of The Children’s Society. It moved to new offices at the Old Town Hall in Kennington Road in 1909. By 1919 the charity had 113 homes and cared for 5,000 children.

A main feature of The Children’s Society’s work was its insistence that children should not become long-term residents in homes, but boarded out, fostered or adopted. By the late 1960s The Children’s Society had become one of the largest adoption agencies in the country.

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, in response to the significant social changes of these years, The Children’s Society moved away from centralised care, fostering and adoption work and focused more on preventative work designed to support children and young people within their own families and communities.

During the 1970s and 1980s The Children’s Society introduced family centres throughout the country offering services such as advice centres, play groups, youth clubs and short term accommodation for young, single children. The society relocated from the Old Town Hall in Kennington Road to new offices at Kings Cross in 1986.

During the 1990s The Children’s Society began focusing on social justice, lobbying to change legislation and welfare provision, and encouraging young people to speak and act for themselves.

The charity’s direct practice now focuses on vulnerable children and young people aged 10 to 18 – including children who have been sexually exploited, children in care and young refugees. Its policy and campaigning work is informed by its direct practice, and by its extensive research on children’s well-being, child poverty and adolescent neglect.

The Children’s Society was rebranded in 2014 by London-based design practice SomeOne from a logo depicting a purple figure reaching for a star to the current black and white identity. The new look reflects the charity’s belief of confronting ‘hard truths’.

In 2017, The Children’s Society launched a new strategy aimed at disrupting the cycles of disadvantage that prevent young people from thriving by 2030; an ambition that directly supports the vision and mission.

The charity has chosen to concentrate on young people aged 10–18 with many problems in their lives (or multiple disadvantage). The strategy focuses on using innovation to scale up impact through technology and learning, partnerships to leverage resource, and continuous improvement by becoming an agile and efficient organisation.

As well as supporting change at an individual level through its direct programmes of work, The Children’s Society aims to effect systemic change by influencing legislation and government practice, and to effect a positive shift in public attitudes towards children and young people.

The Children’s Society’s strategy explores the complex challenges in young people’s lives by focusing on three areas: risk, resilience and resources.

Risk: The threats and dangers to a young person’s safety which could include neglect and abuse, exploitation and violence.
Resilience: A young person’s capacity to respond to adversity at any given time which could include mental health or trauma.
Resources: The resources available to meet a young person’s needs which could include family support, money or social support.

The Kings Theatre, Portsmouth then and now by David Allport

A very interesting talk with photographs of the area prior to and after the build and of the many stars who had appeared there over the ages.

For 110 years audiences have enjoyed musicals, plays, comedy, opera, dance, talks and film in the sumptuous surroundings of the beautiful Grade II* listed proscenium arch theatre, designated by the Theatres Trust as a ‘theatre of national architectural importance’.

J W Boughton conceived and brought to fruition the building of the theatre which was designed by the notable theatre architect Frank Matcham. The theatre stayed in the control of its original owners, The Portsmouth Theatre Limited, until 1964 when it was purchased by Commander Reggie & Mrs Joan Cooper.

In 1990 it was sold to Hampshire County Council. In 2001, after a successful campaign by AKTER (Action for Kings Theatre Restoration) to keep the theatre open, the theatre was purchased by Portsmouth City Council and leased to the Kings Theatre Trust Ltd who undertook the restoration of the building, whilst the Kings Theatre Southsea Ltd operated it on a day-to-day basis.

The following extract from Wikipedia provides further information with links to relevant articles:

The theatre opened on 30 September 1907 with a production of Charles I followed by two further of Sir Henry Irving‘s Works. During the 1930s it was used to premiere several works by Ian Hay before they transferred to the West End including Orders Are Orders and Admirals All. The musical This’ll Make You Whistle premiered there in 1935.

The theatre stayed in the control of its original owners, The Portsmouth Theatre Company, until 1964 when it was purchased by Commander Reggie & Mrs Joan Cooper. In 1990 it was sold again to Hampshire County Council. In 2001, after a successful campaign by AKTER (Action for Kings Theatre Restoration) to keep the theatre open, the theatre was purchased by Portsmouth City Council and leased to the Kings Theatre Trust Ltd who undertook the restoration of the building. The present day theatre has a seating capacity of 1600 and a computerised booking system. Much of the backstage area is still fully manual, allowing it to retain the tag of a traditional hemp house, though powered flying bars have now been installed to allow large-scale productions.

In 1974, director Ken Russell filmed the Pinball Wizard sequence of the rock opera Tommy at the theatre, featuring The Who and Elton John on the stage. He also managed to burn down the South Parade Pier whilst there, footage later used in the film!

And if anyone wants to the see the Pinball Wizard sequence from the film, just click here

Operation Pedestal – the third 1942 convoy to Malta by David Russel

A very interesting and detailed account of the challenges faced in keeping the island of Malta in British hands during the second World War, Malta has been an island fought over for many years due to its strategic position, but there has perhaps been no more important battle than this.

Whilst our talk concentrated on the detail of the attempt to land supplies on the island and prevent its capture, the suffering of the islanders themselves was immense, resulting in the island being awarded the George Cross by King George VI to “bear witness to the heroism and devotion of its people” during the great siege the islands suffered during the beginning of WWII.

You can see it today, immortalised into every Maltese flag as it is woven into the design in the top left-hand corner.

The following, extracted from Wikipedia, gives more details of the blockade, you also see the NAVAL HISTORICAL BRANCH INFORMATION BRIEF on Malta by following the link above.

The Siege of Malta in World War II was a military campaign in the Mediterranean Theatre. From June 1940 to November 1942, the fight for the control of the strategically important island of the British Crown Colony of Malta pitted the air and naval forces of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany against the Royal Air Force(RAF) and the Royal Navy.

The opening of a new front in North Africa in June 1940 increased Malta’s already considerable value. British air and sea forces based on the island could attack Axis ships transporting vital supplies and reinforcements from Europe; Churchill called the island an “unsinkable aircraft carrier“. General Erwin Rommel, in de facto field command of Axis forces in North Africa, recognised its importance quickly. In May 1941, he warned that “Without Malta the Axis will end by losing control of North Africa”.

The Axis resolved to bomb or starve Malta into submission, by attacking its ports, towns, cities, and Allied shipping supplying the island. Malta was one of the most intensively bombed areas during the war. The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) flew a total of 3,000 bombing raids, dropping 6,700 tons of bombs on the Grand Harbour area alone, over a period of two years in an effort to destroy RAF defences and the ports.

Success would have made possible a combined German–Italian amphibious landing (Operation Herkules) supported by German airborne forces(Fallschirmjäger), but this did not happen. In the event, Allied convoys were able to supply and reinforce Malta, while the RAF defended its airspace, though at great cost in materiel and lives. In November 1942 the Axis lost the Second Battle of El Alamein, and the Allies landed forces in Vichy French Morocco and Algeria under Operation Torch. The Axis diverted their forces to the Battle of Tunisia, and attacks on Malta were rapidly reduced. The siege effectively ended in November 1942.[1]

In December 1942, air and sea forces operating from Malta went over to the offensive. By May 1943, they had sunk 230 Axis ships in 164 days, the highest Allied sinking rate of the war.[13] The Allied victory in Malta played a major role in the eventual Allied success in North Africa.

Old Wives Tales to Supercomputers – The Story of Weather Forecasting by Nick Hammond

Todays talk on the history of weather forecasting started with a Quiz of true or false? reality or old wives tale.

Red Sky at Night…….
When swallows fly high……
etc

We then moved on to the actual history of weather forecasting reviewing the early pioneers through to the publication of the first daily weather forecast in The Times in 1861.

Not to forget the creation of Beaufort scale – a scale of values, from 0 to 12, for describing wind strength, as defined by Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort in 1806 and adopted by the International Meteorological Committee in 1874. And something we are all familiar with today.

Similarly, we covered the classification of cloud types (first proposed by Luke Howard in 1802), the movement of winds around the planet and the beneficial effects that clouds have in maintaining global temperatures.

Weather forecasting has further changed as we have moved into computer generated forecasts based on a set of Numerical Weather computing equations. As computer power improves, surely forecasts will get better and be more accurate.

We all complain about weather forecasts and their accuracy as most notably demonstrated by the infamous Michael Fish (already featured on our website), but with ever increasing sensors, increasing computer power and our own increasing understanding of our plant, things can only get better.

Post meeting, Nick has kindly provided links to the videos he was unable to present

ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes: an introduction – YouTube
EUMETSAT’s next-generation satellite systems – YouTube
Earth – a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions (The Earth can be rotated using the mouse. The menus for displaying other NWP parameters is accessed by clicking on the word ‘earth’)

Recollections by Brian Gayle

Brian Gayle gave us an interesting talk with very full notes and slides. Similarly, Nick Hammond, on his induction, gave us a very full and interesting resume of his own story and had very full notes. Nick’s introductory Notes can be found in the New Members section of the website.

On a more general note, there were 29 of us at the meeting and masks were worn by all except when seated.

We collected our own food going up table by table. Generally everyone seemed to accept this and all seemed in good spirits.

Model Making by Vic Bird and Ian McDonald

I’m sure that many of you are familiar, through the youngest members of your families, with Disney’s “It’s a small world” song, well Vic and Ian introduced us to their very own small world making models of boats.

Interestingly, it was COVID and it’s restrictions that brought together these two Proberians (not a real word but I liked the sound of it) enabling them to share their skills and work on a more complex project.

Complimentary skills and knowledge, shared interests, the desire to do something “worthwhile” during Lockdown, an ability to see common day items in a different way and, of course, having the right skills and tools all played their part in making this project a success.

The model that they built together with a collection of models previously built by Ian by himself drew a large audience at the end of the talk which was much appreciated by all present.

The only outstanding question? What next?

A South American Odyssey by lan & Linda McLuckie

We are back live and in strength too; 28 members attended plus 5 guests and two presenters. It was good to see our friends in person and all looking so well.

To make things better we did not have to bring our own packed lunches. Tim (our President) did a sterling job in finding a new caterer for us who put on a wonderful spread (see photographs). Her name Morven and we look forward to many more lunches provide by her.

Our talk was given by lan & Linda McLuckie on their South American Odyssey in 2017. They gave us this presentation out of the goodness of their hearts with no payment as friends of Tim.

It looks like it was a wonderful trip over a period of 3 months starting in Rio Janeiro in the east and travelling south and west and finishing in the Galapagos Islands.

James Fox

An introduction to Vincent Van Gogh: A Life in Pain(t)

This article taken from the Write About website provides an excellent background to this talk. If you are looking for more background, you may also be interested in the BBC programme “The Mystery of Van Gogh’s Ear”.

We all know Vincent Van Gogh for his beautiful art such as Starry Night, Van Gogh self-portrait, The night Cafe, and more. He was an amazing artist, but he also had a very sad life story. It all started on March 30th, 1852 in Brabant, Netherlands. He was a child of a Pastor (Theodorus van Gogh) and his mother Anna Cornelia Carbentus. He was the oldest of his siblings. Which include his brothers Theo and Cor, and his sisters Elisabeth, Anna, and Wil. As a child Vincent was supposedly a very timid and introverted person. Yet, at a young age he was surprisingly uninterested in art, preferring bugs, birds, and nature. As Vincent grew older he was a good student. Yet, his shyness and interesting choice of clothes caused him to be an outcast. These behaviors stayed this way for most of his childhood.

When he was seventeen, he worked in an art trade called Goupil and Company. Based off of letters and diary entries, we can conclude that Vincent enjoyed working in the art business. Until he abruptly stopped working there 1876. Speculations suggest that this was the beginning of his mental diseases, as signs of depression, bipolar disorder, mania, and acute schizophrenia began to show around this time. Hence him suddenly leaving his job. Yet, during his time working there he got promoted, and his brother Theo took his place. Because of the promotion Vincent moved to London (currently the home of two immersive experiences), thus getting exposed to all the art of the time. He was mostly happy there, but once wrote that “Smoking pipe was a good remedy” to the occasional suicidal thoughts he would have. Vincent soon found Eugenia Loyer, and proposed to her almost immediately. Although, she was already (secretly) proposed to someone else and he was rejected. He then fell into a terrible depression, moving from place to place. His letters and diary entries were dull and lifeless. He only showed passion when talking about painting or religion. His career dropped, his appearance worsened, and he became easily aggravated.

Vincent then quit his job and started working out of impulse, which worried his family. He danced between jobs, getting them and losing them faster than his emotions could change (which was very fast). During this time, he was very devoted to religion. Probably because of his suicidal thoughts. After all, if someone thinks they’re going to die, why not try to make your “next life better”. He tried to become a preacher, but failed because he was terrible at public speaking, and then fell deeper into depression. Vincent felt like he had no use in life, but then he found it.

Vincent met a painter named Anton Van Rappard after moving to Brussels, and started studying the arts. He began drawing and painting everything, using everything. He fell in love again, broke his heart and then moved permanently to the Mauve in the Hague. Vincent then rented a cheap studio, and painted mostly the poor people, country workers, and general workers. He began experimenting with more vibrant colours and getting better at art.

Then his mental health declined again. This was probably because of his combined schizophrenia/bipolar disorder, Digitalis poisoning from paint, and alcohol. This caused crazy/manic behavior, and people saw him as crazy so they didn’t buy his art. So he decided to move to southern Paris for a quieter atmosphere and cheaper rent. Yet, this didn’t change his mental state and he began to deteriorate into nothingness.

Vincent self admitted into a mental asylum (where he created starry night), was released, lived for a while longer, and then died after shooting himself in the chest.

And that’s that. No happy ending. No peaceful death. He was broken, and left a legacy for us all to ponder. He shattered into colour splashes and brush strokes, and showed us emotions we could never understand. That no one will ever understand. Vincent was never successful as an artist, but now his pieces are worth billions. I hope vincent can see what we think of him now. I hope he became just another star in that starry, starry night.

JMW Turner: Born in the Age of Sail and Died in the Age of Steam

With a number of Probus members also members of local Art Societies, this was a topic of particular interest to members and not one where I can really add much through my interpretation of the presentation where there are so many complete and comprehensive guides on the subject available.

The presentation covered Turner’s unique style as a painter recognised in his youth when admitted to the Royal Academy at only fourteen, his ultra ego (Admiral Booth), his rather complicated personal life and, of course, his painting.

Born in Covent Garden with the same birthdate as Shakespeare, his father was a Wigmaker and owner of a barbers shop. His mother admitted to Bedlam early in his life, he was variously described as a bumptious, parsimonious intelligent and private retaining his Cockney accent throughout his life.

Unlike many artists, he was able to make a substantial living from his work during his lifetime, however with a combination of miserliness and not trusting banks, he was rumoured to have died with the equivalent of over one million pounds in his mattress whilst living in squalor, having lived a rather unconventional life.

Whist plagiarism is a concern for many artists, his unique and varied style meant this was very rare in Turners case. His works today are sought after, selling for many millions. Southampton City Art Gallery works are worth millions.

So, to get further insight to Turner, his works and personal life there are many sources available including a feature film of his life and painting.

If you want to see more, just follow the links below, but before we finish just take a quick look the next time you receive a £20 note and see who is looking back at you, none other than JMW Turner himself. I don’t imagine he could ever have envisaged that himself!

For further information on Turner and his paintings, see the following links:

The Hidden History of Harry Potter

First published in 1997, a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone is now worth upwards of £39,000, so now is the time to search through you loft for the elusive article!

But, there was so much more to the story than most readers know, hidden clues, hidden references to people and places and a great deal of reliance on the history of magic itself.

From Shamans smelting materials to create “gold” through Ancient Egyptian mythology and beliefs including rebirth through the god Khepri (based on the work of Dung Beetles!), the idea of magic an rebirth has been around for many years.

Names of character had meaning too: Albus Dumbledore (White) Rubeus Hagrid (Red) (the linked article will explain more) and Minerva McGonagall – all bright positive colours, The Malfoy Family name based on the french word “Mal”. Plus many more, Sirius Black and Sibelius Crelawny being just two extra

Moving on we covered Magic Bowls, Indiana Jones and the search for the Holy Grail (an interesting combination if ever there was one) believed to have been used to collect blood at the Crucifixion. Apparently discovered in Spain a few years ago with the correct scientific dating, who knows?

Magical Creatures, Mermaids (often rendered to as Sirens), Unicorns (Reference the Horn of Windsor), Mandrakes (a rooted plant which looks like a person and has anaesthetic properties) and Willow Tree bark which when ground produces Salicylic Acid and forms the basis of Aspirin came next.

Finally, our day out at Hogwarts ended with much still to be explained, a reference to the “Dark Arts” art school in Germany and a reference to the Flying Dutchman Opera and its relevance to our Harry Potter presentation.

We’d barely started yet we’d finished (could that be the result of a Magic Spell?), there is so much more we could explore! If you haven’t read the series of books or the talk has made you think of rereading it, off you go……. only 4,224 pages or just over a million words to go!

or you could cheat and you could read the short summary here!

An introduction to Vincent Van Gogh: A Life in Pain(t)

Then his mental health declined again. This was probably because of his combined schizophrenia/bipolar disorder, Digitalis poisoningfrom paint, and alcohol. This caused crazy/manic behavior, and people saw him as crazy so they didn’t buy his art. So he decided to move to southern Paris for a quieter atmosphere and cheaper rent. Yet, this didn’t change his mental state and he began to deteriorate into nothingness.

Vincent self admitted into a mental asylum (where he created starry night), was released, lived for a while longer, and then died after shooting himself in the chest.

Editors Note: For anyone interested in pursuing this further, you may be interested to watch the program “David Hockney on Vincent Van Gogh” using the link given here.

“The Pain and Pleasure of Vintage car Touring” on March 4th

An excellent presentation today, but what is a Classic Car, perhaps we should start with a definition from Wikipedia: A classic car is an older car, typically 20 years or older, though definitions vary. The common theme is of an older car of sufficient historical interest to be collectible and worth preserving or restoring rather than scrapping.

Wikipedia goes on to say that organisations such as the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) maintain lists of eligible unmodified cars that are called “classic”. These are described as “fine” or “distinctive” automobile, either American or foreign built, produced between 1915 and 1948.

There is no fixed definition of a classic car in the UK either, however two taxation issues do impact cars, leading to some people using them as cutoff dates. All cars built over 40 years ago are exempted from paying the annual road tax vehicle excise duty, and also exempt from the annual UK safety test known as the MOT test, however the vehicle can still be presented for test on a voluntary basis.

HM Revenue and Customs define a classic car for company taxation purposes as being over fifteen years old and having a value in excess of £15,000. Additionally, popular acclaim through classic car magazines can play an important role in whether a car comes to be regarded as a classic but the definition remains subjective and a matter of opinion.

So, with thanks to our presenter, we now are a little more familiar with the fun and challenges of owning such a beast. When will you be buying yours?

Attached is a photo of a vintage Riley passing an old Flourmill in the French countryside.

A mixture of Eccentrics and Rogues on January 7th

So how do we define eccentricity? And who do we apply it too? The definition of eccentricity and who is an eccentric can cover a range of well known people from the Beatles to Spike Milligan (more on him later) and Screaming Lord Sutch.

However, an eccentric to you may seem normal to me or even your other half or best friend, but going back in time and even to this day it seems to often involve Royalty and the “Well to Do”

We start here with Henry de la Poer Beresford from Melton Mowbray, the originator of the saying “paint the town red”. Fortunately he had nothing to do with pork pies or they would be red too!

Lord Clancarty, publisher of Flying Saucer Review (still available online if you are interested) featured in an interview with Terry Wogan was also a proponent of the Hollow Earth Theory. Believe it or not, he was also an ex-Government minister!

Next in our list, Baron Walter de Rothschild, another MP. Apparently destined for greater things, his carriage was pulled by Zebras rather than horses and he maintained his own zoo. His rise to fame was apparently brought to a sudden end when he invited senior colleagues to a “special” banquet”. Guests arrived to be seated only to find empty seats next to them. It got even worse when their occupants arrived….. a troupe of monkeys! As you will see from the previous link (if you followed it) they formed a small part of his collection of animals.

We move on to John Mad Jack Mytton, strangely also a Member of Parliament (There seems to be a theme here). He apparently offered friends £10 to vote for him. He ended up broke (and drunk) in a Debtors Prison.

Many more followed:

Lord Rokeby, a recluse with “water on the brain”, who built and floated in a large water tank in his mansion. Could it have been the first indoor swimming pool?

The Sitwell Family consisting of Sir George and his two sisters. A mad inventor (and yet another member of parliament) his inventions, amongst other things, included a gun for shooting wasps. The only reference to Wasp Gun I can find refers to modern day electronic game play!

Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, who was said to be a transvestite. He often dressed in women’s clothes and took on many positions of authority including a period as Governor of New York!

We then went slightly off track moving on to more modern times, reminiscing about the very famous Brian Johnson and Jonathan Agnew cricketing clip, it’s all in the bails! This was followed by Cynthia Payne who apparently offered a £3 discount to older visitors to her premises as well as accepting Luncheon Vouchers, who remembers them?

More from our era we started with Spike Milligan (this link provides a rare insight to Spike’s private life) Moving on, and the Goons both of which were inspirational for the Monty Python team. Following that we were introduced to “Bob the Tray” Blackman and his rendition of Mule Train.

To celebrate fifty years of Python in 2019 the BBC History dug deep inside BBC Archives and lifted the lid on how the series was commissioned. For Python fans it should be an interesting read which you can see via this link.

Moving on, we discovered Donald Sinclair, a hotel owner in Torquay, the inspiration for Basil Fawlty. Apparently his wife used to have to lock him in the broom cupboard for his own safety. It would certainly have been an interesting place to stay!

So where does it all end? How about the Eccentric Club in London, President…… Prince Philip! Their motto could equally apply to PROBUS, although not since 1781 (at least as far as I know):

NIL NISI BONUM – Celebrating Eccentricity since 1781

Oh God our help in ages past on 3rd December

Andy Skinner started our presentation the familiar chant of Southampton City Centres civic bells which feature the original Issac Watts composition from over 300 years ago. The tune will also be very familiar to many others, but more on that later.

At that time, Southampton was a small port focused on wine and trading which became partly famous around the time when the Mayflower set sail from the port for the New World only to have pull in at Plymouth on the way. Plymouth took all the glory, but Southampton does have the Mayflower Theatre as a mark of its involvement!

The population increased over the years with many Huguenots choosing to live in the port following the St. Bartholomew’s massacre of Huguenots in France. The French Chapel established at that time still exists today and holds an annual service in its mother language.

Son of a local vicar, Issac Watts went to King Edwards School, was well educated and could speak both Hebrew and Greek. He went on to become the Father of English Hymns writing a total of over 750, mainly focused on the Psalms and this is where today’s link still exists.

Put simply, Psalm 90 which forms the basis of the hymn “Oh God our help in ages past” is in turn the basis of Southampton’s Civic Centre chime. The Psalm itself was also used at the State Funeral of Winston Churchill.

The Clock Tower was, in fact, never originally intended to be installed but ended up being completed with the famous chime which residents of Southampton are familiar with to this present day.

So that’s, in a very quick pass with no little more than a quick overview of what was covered. As always, use the highlighted links to find more information on various parts of the talk and this final link to listen to the chime.

Hang on a minute, listen carefully to the Civic Centre bells…… I’m sure that’s Play Up Pompey I can hear……. in Southampton?, really?

Editors Note: If you wish to find out more about bell ringing in Southampton (or even fancy trying it yourself, contact Southampton City Ringers via the highlighted web page.

Titanic on 19th November

Our talk started with our speaker providing an overview of the Sea City Museum and the the “interesting” fact that the toilets for for the centre are located in the old prison cells. If you do need to use them, don’t get locked in!

Back to Titanic…. Captain Smith who had captained a range of White Star liners prior to taking on this role was highly regarded within the industry and by his peers having captained a number of White Star Line vessels during his career. He led an experienced team including second officer Charles Lightoller, the only officer to survive and who later sailed to help the Dunkirk evacuation.

The boat was well covered with lookouts, six in total working in pairs, so what went wrong resulting in over 1,500 deaths, many from the City of Southampton. The Crew Wall in the museum shows locals that are known to have died with many people drawn to work on the boat during a period of high unemployment and poverty.

Some interesting and perhaps irrelevant facts:

Titanic consumed one ton of coal every two minutes. There are claims that it was actually an uncontrolled coal fire onboard that sank the ship!

There were twenty three women stewardesses on board (of which 20 were saved). One, Violet Jessopwent on to serve on Britannic, a British Red Cross hospital ship, during the First World War. They were paid half the wages of men doing the same job.

There were fourteen Bakers. One of the Many heroes on board, Charles Laughlin the head chef, threw deckchairs for people to hold as well as preparing bread and food parcels for use on the lifeboats. He survived in the sea for two hours before being rescued possibly as a result of being off duty and just having consumed a “reasonable“ amount of alcohol that evening!

There were Dog Kennels on board, three of the twelve dogs on Titanic actually survived being given places on lifeboats, although men were denied boarding when spaces in boats were available. Rumours that at least one man dressed as a woman to escape the boat are thought to be untrue.

The ill fated voyage almost didn’t happen as a collision with SS New York in the harbour which would have prevented Titanic sailing was narrowly avoided.

Originally planned to have 48 lifeboats, the number was reduced to 20 to make a promenade area for first class passengers.

The most expensive first class cabin on board cost the equivalent of 60,000 dollars today. Second class was equally luxurious comparable in most ways to the first. You can find more details of the different classes and cabins online.

On August 14th several ice warnings were received from the Californian and other nearby ships. Wireless operator Jack Philips apparently chose to ignore the warnings sent from other ships and eventually turned off contact contact with them. The rest is, as they say, history.

Two messages were sent, the familiar SOS plus CQD (Come Quickly in Distress were sent with nearby vesselsresponding to save lives.

Back to Charles Laughlin, Head Chef, who threw deckchairs for people to hold as well as preparing bread and food parcels for lifeboats. Having survived he subsequently moved to America where he crewed on several ships usually in a catering capacity. You can see his statement to the British Enquiry here.

Did the band play on until she sunk or is it a myth, either way you can hear some of the music that they played.

The unwritten “rule” women and children first was perhaps obeyed too strictly with lifeboats sometimes leaving the boat partly empty. More could have been saved. 21 of the 23 female crew survived with Violet Jessop later sailing on the Olympic. It was claimed that at least one man dressed as a woman to board a lifeboat.

With no internet and limited contact with the outside world it was difficult for families to get information about relatives onboard but eventually reports began to come out across the world.

The Southampton museum has several recorded Titanic survivor accounts which can be directly accessed from their website. You can also see both survivor accounts and several other videos on the British Pathe website.

To finish, Olympic, Titanic’s sister ship, had a very successful career as a Cruise Liner. There are however very many conspiracy theories as to whether it was the Olympic rather than the Titanic that sank.

Download the Titanic Trail and the Old Town Walk should you visit Southampton and want to explore further.

To finish, the Sea City Museum referred to at the beginning of this article opened on 10th April 2012, exactly 100 years after the Titanic sunk.

Editor’s Note: The Museum is well worth a visit, one key exhibit on show, amongst many others, is detailed below:

CAPTAIN SMITH’S SWORD

Captain Smith perished with the Titanic. His Royal Naval Reserve sword, donated by his family in 1912 now features in SeaCity Museum in the Southampton’s Titanic story exhibition.

Andy Skinner presented The History of Southampton Docks on August 18th at our first ever Zoom meeting

An historic day was made today as twenty four members of the Probus Club of Locks Heath gathered together online using Zoom to experienced their very first online group presentation.

The presentation on the history of Southampton docks was given by Andy Skinner who started by referring to the term POSH which Andy said was not really relevant in real terms and that it’s current interpretation had been manufactured over the years.

Andy began by referring to the history of Southampton starting in Roman times when it was known as Clausentum. This area, known as Bitterene today, was mainly involved in the production of Fish Sauce. The next area occupied was St Mary’s where a Norman mediaeval town was established. It was primarily involved in the wool trade and in handling wine which was imported from Gascony.

Moving forward, the seventeenth century saw the start of boat building in Southampton and rounding area, in fact it is 400 years ago this year since the Mayflower left Southampton on its voyage to the new world being forced to stop off at Plymouth due to a leak in it’s hull. As such it is Plymouth rather than Southampton that gets credit for this voyage of discovery. Later came the development of steam powered liners including the Great Western and Britannia which crossed the Atlantic in just twelve days (the Mayflower took sixty six).

An Act of Parliament was needed in 1803 to establish Southampton Docks, the SS Targus being the first ship to set sail from there, immigrants to America were the main traffic at that time. Passenger traffic started in the 1860s.

When that occurred, expansion of the towns shipping capacity was required to help trade enabling new businesses such as nurseries to be established providing grapes fruit and similar items for the ships was required. The next phase saw more companies moving to the south coast in the 1890s including the start of luxury liners, but more on that later….

The City of Paris was the first luxury liner to move to Southampton in 1888 with work on the new docks completed in 1890 despite regular strikes including movement of the railway station due to flooding. Further development completed in 1910 including huge warehouses

The first occupant of the new docks was the White Star Line which could host huge four funnel ships including Mauritania which became holder of the Blue Riband for transatlantic crossings.

1912 saw the departure of the Titanic on it’s fateful journey, three quarters of the crew being locals to the Southampton area. Soon after came the First World War, the sinking of the Southampton based Lusitaniawith Americans on board leading to the US joining the war.

The current West Docks were created just after the end of the war with the introduction of the new “Tourist Class” vastly increasing the number of travellers but this was all to change again with the outbreak of World War II. The docks had a major part to play in D-Day.

Post war, there was a general move from liner based holidays due to the increasing availability of affordable air travel with the QE2 the first ship to buck the trend and reestablish the idea of a holiday at sea.

Southampton is now a major sea port commonly seen as driven by the three C’s – Cruises, Crude Oil and Cars. The additional tides available through the positioning of the Isle of Wight being one of the key factors

Who says us “Oldies” can’t do new technology?

Probus meeting clip from the Zoom screen. Everyone seems to have a shirt on at least!

After months of self isolation and inability to either hold regular committee meetings or meet up as a group, the committee met up to discuss how best to progress over the coming months using Zoom…… who says us oldies don’t understand new technology.

The meeting was a great success and in addition to agreeing a position on fees for the current year (see Colin’s separate note) also concluded on trying our first remote talk on Southampton Docks, details below.

As the title says “Who says us oldies can’t do new technology!” Which

David Allport MBE presented “What did you do during the war Mum?” at the March meeting

A comprehensive talk of the role played by women in both the First and Second World Wars, this was a fascinating presentation by an excellent speaker.

We learnt about the many roles that women took on during World War One ranging from acting as window cleaners and chimney sweeps to window cleaners, from munitions workers to working the land, they served at home and abroad and managed to balance their traditional home duties with war work. They ran the postal service, joined the police force and even became firefighters. There is very little that they didn’t do!

At the time of World War Two they took on an even broader range of roles although they were no longer allowed to be front line firefighters! There were even a group of Lumbergirls working the UK’s forests to deliver much needed timber, not to mention those involved in building and flying aircraft from factories to RAF bases.

There is so much more that was covered but can’t be included here. If you are interested in this subject, more information can be found using the following links including the UK Official National

Further information on the role of women during the World Wars can be found in the National Archive as well as in Government Records

Valerie Archibald presented “A 1,200 mile stroll to Santiago de Compostela“ at the February meeting

Hosted by Derek Treagus (who along with Jim Dodd, their wives and fourteen other pilgrims walked the last 115km of the Camino in May 2019), Valerie gave a fascinating account of the walk she did from her home all the way through to Santiago de Compostela – a distance of over 1,200 miles!

As well as providing information on the history of the route, some memorable pictures taken during her walk and a real insight into what it takes to complete such a journey (no more than two sets of clothing, alternating them everyday and washing/drying them overnight), we were given a real insight to the amount of planning and preparation required for such a journey including a self defence course which, fortunately, Valerie did not need to use!

Parts of the route were impassable due to flooding, parts very repetitive with “tree after tree“ but Valerie pushed through with the help of a short visit from her daughter who joined her en route for two weeks.

With stories of Water Bottles, Dormitories, being attacked by rampant dogs, her experience at Mont san Michelle and blisters, there is too much to add in this short text. Suffice to say Valerie managed to complete her journey and receive her Certificate of Completion. Her books of stamps which you collect on your journey are now safely mounted and proudly displayed in her house.

As fellow travellers say en route, this was certainly a “Bon Camino” in the end and with Valerie’s love of walking having seen her complete many other major walks too, perhaps a future presentation is called for?

And if you are interested, completed by Derek Treagus, Jim Dodd an fourteen other Pilgrims, you can find details of their rather simpler Camino de Santiago walk in 2019 >here<

Ron Harrop presented “A trip down the Danube on a Tandem” at the January meeting

Ron recalled how he travelled around with his Tandem alongside the Danube and other locations including the US.

His uniquely designed tandem bicycle (which he had brought to show club members a few years ago) was an ingeniously constructed mainframe so it could be split in two and the two halves bagged so as the two bags could then be taken as hold baggage on air flights. He took the tandem around Europe and the USA.

We were not told how many miles he travelled on the tandem bike but he always seemed to be having fun. On his travels he could never book accommodation ahead as he could never predict his likely arrival time or even where he would be by the late afternoon. Punctures, bad weather, etc. were always a challenge.

Some of his photos and videos showed him and his (long suffering) wife meeting up with local cycling groups in the places he went to. They all looked fascinated by the tandem. (Eileen always looked to be smiling)

Ron’s own account of the trip and more photos can be found using the following link

Bob Marshall presented Bursledon Brickworks at the December meeting

Bursledon Brickworks Industrial Museum, often shortened to Bursledon Brickworks, is a volunteer-run brickworks museum based in the village of Swanwick, Hampshire, England. It is thought to be the last Victorian steam-driven brickworks left in the UK.

Bob gave us a fascinating talk about the history of bricks and where they have been used over the ages, particularly from the Romans to the Victorians.

Bursledon Brickworks started out in 1897 as Hooper & Ashby, a local builders’ merchants, who also made bricks. The company was co-founded by the Ashbys and the Hoopers, two separate Quakerfamilies, both from SurreyIn 1903, Hooper & Ashbychanged its name to The Bursledon Brick Co. Limitedor (B.B.C. Ltd.). This coincided with the extension of the southern complex with the addition of the northern complex. This was further extended in 1935.

With the extra capacity, the brickworks was producing in excess of 20 million bricks a year. They were one of the main producers of bricks in the region. Most of the original machinery was moved to the Swanwick site from Chandler’s Ford.. Edward Hooper, who moved to Southampton at the age of 26, was a civil engineer and architect. In the 1851 census records, Edward is described as being both an engineer and a brick maker.

The brickworks finally closed in 1974, and the site was later saved from demolition by the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust. The south section of Bursledon Brickworks which houses the brick kiln, chimney, drying sheds, boiler and engine house are Grade II* listed.

After Bob’s talk that was well illustrated with photos he answered a number of questions by our members, many of whom had visited the site and seen brick making being demonstrated

You can find more details about the brickworks themselves here including information on future events.

Note the Brickworks is now closed until April 2019.

Mike Ford presenting “A cycle ride from Lands End to John O’Groats at the November meeting

Cycling not just for “personal pleasure” but also to raise money for the Mayor’s charity, we started at Lands End and experienced our first accident after only ten miles…… but cyclists are made of stern stuff and We continued towards our final destination!

A number of notable places on the way included the Somerset Levels, crossing the Severn Bridge, a ride through Wales passing Tintern Abbey and towpaths in Lancashire. Following a stop at Tebay to see the England game, the team reached Lancaster – half way!

Onto Scotland with a stop under the Forth road bridge followed by a fifteen mile climb through to Tweedale, the team proceeding onto Edinburgh. Dalwhinny whisky provided a convenient stop!

The temperature at Aviemore the next day reached 31 degrees (who says Scotland is cold!) but the following day everything returned to normal with a temperature of 13 degrees approaching Inverness.

A second accident almost halted the ride again but a local cycle shop sorted the problem allowing everyone to visit Culloden (last British land battle in 1746) with a visit to the Glenmorangie Distillery providing relief for sore arms and legs.

Finally Mike and Peter are at John O’Groats, just the problem of how to get back home having covered 948 miles in fifteen days, each carrying everything they needed in need two panniers!

Madeline Salvetti presenting “Royal Mistresses” at the October meeting

Madeline started her talk by referring to the theft of a ring from Goodwood House given to his mistress by Charles II and proceeded to take us through a long history (too long to detail here!) of mistresses of royalty, famous characters from history and some of our more recent celebrities.

In the course of our travels through time we learnt about the “escorts” of individuals from Nelson (Emma Hamilton) through The Black Prince (Joan of Kent) and Charles II (Nell Gwynn) to Edward VII (Lille Langtry).

Adding in links to Princess Diana and David Cameron during her talk, Madeline moved on to the dalliances of political leaders and current celebrities, referring in passing to the wifelets of the Marquis of Bath (seventy six at the last count).

A fascinating talk and a great insight to “how the other half live”.

Derek Treagus, 3rd October 2019

Dr Tim Mason presenting “The Polio Story” at the August meeting

Dr Mason a retired lecturer from Portsmouth University returned to the club to give another fascinating talk based on his experience as a specialist in biomedical science. The minute polio virus lives only in humans and enters the body from infected water or faecal contamination of food. Rapidly one virus can become 10,000 as it multiplies in the throat and descends into the gut to enter the lymphatic system and blood stream. For most (more than 90%) it is a mild enteritis with no lasting ill effects. Others less fortunate can have spinal motor nerves affected leading to muscle paralysis to varying degrees (hence the name infantile paralysis). Most serious is the damage to chest muscles with serious breathing problems. The development of the “iron lung” was to save many lives.

The growth of bigger cities with inadequate sewage disposal gave rise to many more cases in recent times with severe epidemics. Better sewage disposal and food hygiene and swimming bath chlorination all helped to reduce cases. Rehabilitation was improved with muscle exercises and care at such centres as Lord Mayor Treloar hospital.

However the real wish for modern scientists was to develop a preventive vaccine with the earliest ones coming in 1935. By 1950’s two American researchers were approaching success, namely Salk and Sabin; one with killed virus basis and the other with attenuated live vaccine. After various modifications, because of viral mutation, and then large patient trials (especially an enormous one in Russia) the way forward became clear and world wide immunisation programmes were made possible. Gradually a reduction from 350,000 cases annually in 1988 occurring in 125 countries was reduced to 33 a year in 2018 in only three countries; Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Dr Mason concluded this comprehensive lecture with his exciting prediction that very soon Polio would be eliminated from the world.

Howard Mowbray, 1st August 2019

Nick Rose presents on Hearing loss and Hearing Aids at the July meeting

Nick Rose outlined his career starting at Amplifon, followed by the Audiology Department at Boots, and eighteen months ago decided to go it alone, now based in Portchester.

His opening slide was of a hearing aid of the 1970’s, almost as large as the ear, emphasising how things have changed over fifty years. He summarised clearly and simply how the ear works, and how most of us will experience some hearing loss as we age. Using an audiogram contrasting normal hearing with someone with moderate to severe hearing loss, Nick showed what we lose, birdsong, the ping of a micro-wave, and aspects of speech. Vowel sounds and voiced consonants may be unaffected, but we struggle with unvoiced consonants which contain higher frequencies, leading to hearers complaining of a speaker ‘mumbling’.

Modern hearing aids come in different forms and functionality. Many leave the ear as open as possible letting in sound normally, others are ‘in ear’ and more discrete. Both leave what works alone and compensate for weaknesses. The digital electronics revolution has transformed hearing aids to marvels of miniaturisation and capability being fully programmable to each individual. Options now include rechargeable hearing aids, aids that can be programmed remotely, aids that answer your smart phone, aids that let you know where you might have left one (though being able to trace ones movements seems not to have been popular!). Hot off the most recent list is a manufacturer who claims an aid which can translate a foreign language into English. Nick concluded his talk emphasising how different we all are but with technological and audiological advances hearing aids are now very versatile being tailored to the individual.

Nick then invited questions. There was a lively question and answer session, ranging from the importance of lip reading, intelligibility in a ‘hubbub’, performance in responding to the sound of music, the limitations of sound settings for smart TV’s, the apparent shortage of audiologists, and of course the cost of modern aids.

To close John Campbell proposed a vote of thanks for an excellent and very well received talk.

J K Hammond, 8th July 2019

Colin Orpe presented on Deck Operations for Royal Navy Aircraft Carriers at the May meeting.

Today’s talk was related mainly to Deck Operations from RN Aircraft Carriers.It started however with the life of Rex Arnold of Fareham, youngest son of Rev Arnold, HolyTrinity Church Fareham, during WW1.

Rex became a pilot in the Royal Naval Air Service, RNAS, in 1914. He served throughout the war finishing in 1918 as the Commanding Officer of 79 Squadron, RNAS, deployed to Belgium. He was awarded several medals for bravery, DSC, DFC, etc., died 1954 and as an Ace Pilot was buried in Westminster. His two elder brothers served with the Army and were killed in France, -their names are recorded on the Fareham war memorial.

Videos of WW2 and later RN aircraft were shown – their operational use being described – particularly that of the attack by 21 Swordfish Aircraft from HMS Illustrious on the Italian Fleet at Taranto in 1940.

Videos were shown of the complex operation of launching heavy Aircraft from the short deck of an Aircraft Carrier. They included the work of the young, highly disciplined deck crew in cramped, extremely noisy and arduous conditions in all weathers – beneath the engine running aircraft!

Finally a brief mention was given of the entry into service of the new Aircraft Carrier and the Carrier’s aircraft.
Picture shows a Buccaneer Aircraft landing on a Carrier deck.

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Brenda Magretts presenting “Lost Souls of WW1” at the Probus Club of Locks Heath March meeting

An interesting and evocative presentation on the real cost of World War One and those “Known only to God”.

World War 1 began on July 28, 1914. The conflict lasted four years, three months and 14 days, ending on November 11, 1918.

The war began because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. He was heir to throne of Austria-Hungary.

Over Eight million soldiers died in World War 1, and another 21 million were injured. A staggering 65 million soldiers were mobilized during the war.

For anyone interested in this subject, the following document held in the Hampshire record office may be of interest

Hampshire First World War Archive

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Visits

Probus Club on the Danube (by John Robertson)

Visiting the royal palace of Godolloon our first day, we hen drove up the escarpment in Buda to Matthias church, a splendidly decorated building with a multicoloured tiled roof and a terrace with panoramic views over Pest. That evening we cruised past the illuminated Hungarian Houses of Parliament- a magnificent sight! Still in Hungary next morning, we were taken to the paprika growing area of Kaloksa where we were shown a museum of paprika culture (!) and a folk art centre.

Arriving in Belgrade we had a guided tour of the fortress with more panoramic views over the river, but the rest of the city was unremarkable, our guide referred to the concrete appartment blocks of the Soviet era as “commie condos”. “You may think them ugly from the outside, but from the inside they’re even more ugly”.

That night we crossed into Bulgaria stopping at a small riverside town also with a fortress, but with a population with an average age of 50! The town appeared to be dying as there was nothing to attract or retain young people. Our next stop was Ruse, an apparently thriving city, where we were invited to visit the rock churches of Ivanovo. This is a World Heritage site in hermits’ caves containing 14^thcentury rock paintings.

The following day we cruised through the Iron Gate, an extremely picturesque gorge between Serbia and Romania which was not navigable until two dams were built after WW11 raising the water level by sixty metres, drowning an island, and displacing 1500 families. The dams provide both countries with most of there electricity needs. For sightseeing, this was the best part of the cruise.

Finally we arrived at the Danube delta, at the village of St Gheorge, and were ushered with our lifejackets into several small boats for a tour of the waterways. Although the migration season had almost ended, we saw flocks of pelicans, cormorants and ducks, but very little close enough to photograph. A brief excursion on foot to the Black Sea was good exercise but poor sightseeing.

All members of the group were delighted with the cruise, even if all the shore visits could not be undertaken by the less mobile. We were treated to unfailing courtesy on board, the catering was excellent, and the other passengers were easy to get to know. We would all highly recommend the experience.

You can see more Photos in the holidays section of our Photo Gallery by clicking here and following the link to the holidays section

Chichester Festival Theatre Backstage Visit (by Mike Cresswell)

A group of fourteen members, wives and guests enjoyed a visit to CFT. We were given a history of the project to set up the theatre and the main features of the design. Remarkably it only cost £2 million pound to build in 1962 although the recent refurbishment cost £22 million.

The tour started with a visit to the under stage area where it was explained that the stage including the trap doors or revolving sections were completely rebuilt for each new production. This normally took 2/3 days.

We moved onto the Costume area where it was explained that every actor had 2 outfits which were washed on alternate days, the more complex costumes were sprayed with a 70% vodka mixture to ‘freshen’ them. We also visited the wig room where it seemed everybody had a wig which had to re-made each day, and a typical dressing room. The theatre can accommodate about 40 actors but a large production like ‘Oklahoma’ only has a cast of 26.

We saw the backstage area where the props are stored and can easily be moved onto the stage. The stage itself was impressively large. Nobody burst into song.

Lunch followed at The Bell pub just over the road from the Theatre.

Next we went to the auditorium where we had an explanation of the sound system and lighting rig including a small tent in the roof occupied by the spotlight operator from before the performance until everybody had left!

Details of the individual productions attended can be seen in the Chichester Festival page of this website

Lunch at Avenue 141 (by Derek Treagus)

A group of twenty eight Probus members, wives and guests made our second visit of the year to Avenue 141 on Friday October 25th.

Avenue 141 provides students studying at Fareham College with the opportunity to practice the skills they are learning on “real customers”.

As always (we have had several Probus meals there before) both the food and service were excellent and the event provided an opportunity for everyone to catch up on happenings since the Summer Lunch.

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. Our thanks go to Mike Cresswell for organising this event.

Exbury Gardens

A group of 18 Probus Club of Locksheath members and friends visited Exbury Gardens on Wednesday 24th April. We started the day with a hot drink to ward off the inclement weather, however the periods of rain were short and kept the crowd away leaving the gardens and cafe almost available for our exclusive use.

Some of us used the buggy some the train and others walked. The rain had washed the flowers and the colours were outstanding. We were able to reserve tables in the cafe so we all sat together for lunch. After lunch some of our group returned to the Gardens while others purchased plants from the garden shop.

Visit to Rolls Royce

What colour do you think she would like ?

We were taken into the production area and shown how every car was produced to an individual specification, no two cars were the same. The attention to detail was outstanding. After the tour we had lunch at a Pub.

We then visited a specialist classic car restorer and were able to see the very different skills required for restoring the previous generations of Rolls Royce cars.

RNLI Poole

An informative and interesting visit to the RNLI in Poole on March 27th organised by David Olley.

The RNLI first established a lifeboat station at Poole in 1865 and lifeboats at Poole have been launching into one of the largest natural harbours in the world for 150 years, providing a lifesaving service for Poole Harbour and surrounding waters.

Today, the station has both an inshore lifeboat, launched from a floating boathouse, and an all-weather lifeboat. The crews have been presented with 22 awards for gallantry.

No new volunteers to join the Lifeboat team today though!

Avenue 141

Lunch at Avenue 141 on St David’s Day And no daffodils on the menu….. a terrific lunch and, of course, a great opportunity for the students to develop their skills. We shall undoubtedly be back for more in the near future (as indeed we were).

Many thanks go to Mike Cresswell for organising this event.

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In Memoriam

We are sad to report the passing of Graham Andrews who was 95 and a Probus Member from June 2014 until retired in 2020. He was Chartered Electrical Engineer.

His funeral will be held at WESSEX VALE CREMATORIUM on Thursday 29th September. At 1.00pm

We are sad to report the passing of John Robertson. He was 83.

Bernadette, his daughter, sent this photo. She has advised that there will be a funeral for family only, probably in mid September, followed by a Wake for all who would like to go. Details can be found at the end of this article.

John joined Probus in 2002 and was President in 2006. We will be putting more details of his involvement with all Probus activities including Summer Events and Cruises, on our website in due course.

John was also an active and founder member of the Warsash U3A.

He had a great sense of humour and determination even when he knew that his short illness was terminal.

Our thoughts are with his family at this time

We are sad to report the passing of Past Probus President (2010) Trevor Clarke in May 2022. Aged 89 (He would have been 90 on 2nd June).

Trevor Clarke’s funeral service was held at St Mary’s in Warsash on Thursday 16th June at 2.30pm with refreshments in St. May’s Hall afterwards.

Trevor was a Project Manager for IBM and joined our Probus Club in 2005, becoming President in 2010. He retired from Probus in 2018.

He was also a member of various local Societies and belonged to the Warsash Sailing Club.

We are sad to report the passing of Mike Tanner, a long standing member of our club.

Mike’s Memorial Service was held at St Mary’s Church in Warsash on Monday 6th June at 1pm and afterwards at Warsash Sailing Club, where he had been a member for many years.

Any donations in Mike’s memory may be made online at www.michacl-tannerl.muchloved.comAlternatively, cheques made payable to The RNLI may be sent care of A. H. Freemantle Funeral Directors 46 South Street Titchfield, PO14 4DY

Miscellaneous

This section contains miscellaneous items which may be of interest to Probus Club of Locks Heath members

Visit to Parliament in 2017 as guests of our local MP

River Cruise in 2015 as featured in Probus Magazine (see the Photo Gallery for pictures from this and other trips

Completed by Derek Treagus, Jim Dodd an fourteen other Pilgrims, you can find details of their Camino de Santiago walk in 2019 here

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