Author: P83WPAdmin

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.

No “Latest News” updates for a while could imply that Probus 83 is withering on the vine or in some catatonic state. 

The reality is that this year to date our monthly lunches and FFF (Family Finances Forum) meetings have been well supported and we have welcomed several new members.

Here’s a summary of our 2025 lunch meetings:

January 2025 Lunch

Our speaker: our fellow member Tony Mallard

The topic – “A policeman’s lot is not a happy one!”

February 2025 Lunch

Our speaker: Paul Whittle

The topic – “Steaming On” which is based on Heritage Railways

March 2025 Lunch

Our speaker: Richard Harris

The topic – “Victorians at Leisure.”

April 2025 Lunch

Our speaker: Andy Richardson

The topic – “Britain’s amazing aircraft industry – what happened?”

May 2025 Lunch

Our speaker: Pete Stammers

The topic – “How did WW2 end in Europe?”

June 2025 Lunch

Summer Guest Lunch

July 2025 Lunch

Our speaker: David Nicholson

The topic – “Brooklands, Birthplace of British Motor Racing.”

August 2025 Lunch

Our speaker: Ian Worley

The topic – “The fascinating life of Charles Darwin.”

The FFF (Family Finances Forum) has also held a full schedule of meetings but is currently enjoying its customary July/August summer break as members enjoy spending their winnings.

 

A very happy and prosperous New Year to you all. And may all your investments be merry and bright. Now for a slightly negative note. We live in inflationary times and, as a result of a £2 per head lunch and venue hire cost increase by Weybourne House, the monthly lunch meeting cost is now £27 as agreed at our November 2024 AGM.

Our Chairman prefaced the 2024 Members’ Booklet thus:

2023 proved to be a successful year for us bearing in mind the existential threat we faced following the Covid fall out.

We have increased our numbers in the period largely due to our members’ efforts and we look to do the same this year.

Covid, especially pre-vaccine and luncheon clubs for retired professionals didn’t mix but we kept going, initially with virtual meetings, followed by “real” lunches when permitted. Unsurprisingly we lost members but, as life normalised, growth resumed and 2024 continues the trend. Our current situation is:

• Membership, although lower than pre Covid, has substantially recovered and continues to grow as we welcome new members
• Early 2022 saw the resumption of “real” monthly lunch and Family Finances Forum meetings after the Zoom interim
• Summer 2024 has seen the resumption of golf matches against other clubs, the most recent won by us.
• Bowls and Visits have yet to resume.

Members met on Thursday 9th June for our monthly meeting at Weybourne House.

Our after lunch speaker was Jay Woogara, one of our own members. His fascinating talk charted his progress from a difficult start to life in Mauritius – father died when he was young and the family couldn’t afford to send him to secondary school – to a law degree, PhD and qualification as a barrister.