Author: P83WPAdmin

The next Probus ‘83 Lunch at Weybourne House will be on Thursday 5^th March 2026.

Our speaker will be Dr Richard Marks

 Richard Marks is an experienced historian and has authored a number of books. Richard has a background in Technology and Business, has worked as a consulting historian for various museum exhibitions and is a lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Oxford.

He has an engaging presentation style which he will use for his lunch talk:

Barbers to Surgeons

Over the reign of Queen Victoria huge developments occurred in the medical field. The talk will explain how new scientific thinking and bold philosophical challenges of the era reshaped the way people understood illness and the human body. It will examine how the Industrial Revolution also transformed hospitals, surgery, and everyday healthcare, and will demonstrate how Victorian innovation laid the foundations of modern medicine.

Our next monthly lunch will be on Thursday 5th February 2026.

Our February speaker will be another fellow member Martin Campling who will give a talk entitled: An Astronomy Presentation. 

Finally, our Speaker Secretary Fred Knopp has handed over the reins to Alvin Hill after several years. Many thanks to Fred who has so ably managed this important role.

Our January 2026 meeting will be on January 8th 2026, running a week late to avoid the obvious clash with New Year’s Day.

The Speaker will be our fellow member David Mayne who will give a talk entitled – “The Himalayas, a Trekker’s Perspective“.

Our Christmas Lunch, with ladies and guests invited, will be held on Thursday 4th December. There is an appropriate special menu and the cost per head, on this occasion, is £30.

The speaker is Helen Taylor and her talk is entitled: “A history of Christmas Celebrations”.

At our AGM held on 6th November it was agreed that the club Annual Subscription could be reduced from £50 to £35.

The club Committee is continuing in place, except that David Ball has agreed to accept the role of Deputy Honorary Treasurer.

The December 2025 lunch will occur as planned but our January 2026 lunch will be on January 8th, New Years Day being on a Thursday.

Finally the November Family Finances Forum meeting is being slipped to the first week in December so that actual announcements in Parliament on the 26th November can be discussed as opposed to being speculated upon in advance.

We meet again for lunch on Thursday 6th November. As per usual in November we meet for our AGM. But it won’t all be about club business. By popular request Stephen Palmer will then wake us all up with another of his quizzes.

Our August 2025 Meeting welcomed a return visit by Lorimer Burn as our speaker with “A Caribbean Adventure” as his talk title. Lorimer, a former British Midland 737/A320 captain, started his flying career as a Naval helicopter pilot. His talk described his early training, initially at Dartmouth, and an early deployment to the Caribbean. It’s a lovely day for a swim in mid Atlantic; the water’s nice and warm and only 13,000 feet deep. BTW, do watch out for triangular fins.

Our October lunch meeting will be on Thursday 2nd October. Our speaker will be Tony Insall (ex-Diplomatic Service) with his talk: “The madness of courage World War 1“

Weybourne House has increased the monthly lunch charge by £2 and as explained at our September meeting the club has had little option but to increase the cost to members from £27 to £29 wef our October meeting on Thursday 2nd October.