At this morning’s FFG meeting we were all impressed by the range and detail of David Bott’s talk on his “Random Walk through the Investment Minefield” (AKA “The 20 Year Learning Curve of an Investment Novice.” ) – and by Gerry Booth’s skill as Chairman.

The subsequent discussion ranged over many topics, including the use of qualifying AIM Portfolios as a vehicle to reduce the impact of Inheritance Tax. The following link to an article in the February edition of Money Observer shows the relative performance and charges of a number of companies offering AIM Portfolios: AIM Portfolio Performance & Charges

We hope that many of you can make the next meeting of the FFG on 21 March, when we will have the opportunity to hear the views of George Coster, Nic Clarke and John Devine of Charles Stanley on “How and where should one allocate assets at this time?” This talk has been arranged by Colin Dorling, who used to work for Charles Stanley and it promises to be an interesting session. (The post 29 March meeting with Andrew Withey could also be “interesting”!)

Speaker Secretary Ian Rutter reports:

Gordon Bridger, a member of Probus ’83 since 2014, gave us a talk entitled ‘The British Empire’. Gordon is well qualified to speak on this subject as he was Director of Economics for British Aid Programmes for many years and also worked for the United Nations in a similar role. He has lived and/or worked in almost every state of the current Commonwealth and many others besides.

After a slightly uncertain start, mainly caused by a recalcitrant audio headset, Gordon soon warmed to the task of persuading us that, in general, the states of the Empire benefitted greatly from British imperial power. We were asked to compare the effect of Britain on their colonies with that of Spain, Belgium, Holland and France on theirs. We are still very welcome in almost all countries of the Commonwealth – indeed some citizens of some countries would like us back!

Gordon pointed out that very few ex-Empire countries have failed to join the Commonwealth, (a voluntary organisation), among them Burma, Ireland, Maldives, Yemen and (dare one say) the USA, but three other states – Mozambique, Namibia and Rwanda – which were not British colonies, have joined the Commonwealth.

He also asked us to look at the situations in many ex-Empire states, since they gained their independence. Many, particularly in Africa, have discarded British values and are now dictatorships with poor economies, much to the detriment of the majority of their people.

Don Horrocks, himself a well-travelled member of Probus ’83, gave a deservedly generous vote of thanks. Certainly, if one judges the interest in a talk by the number of questions afterwards, then Gordon’s presentation was a great success.

Although the content is still basically similar, you will notice that our club website now looks somewhat different.

To make life easier for club contributors to this website, and to simplify site management generally,  the CMS (Content Management System) has been changed to WordPress. In particular this will simplify the management and presentation of pictures. Another change is that “Latest News” is now in blog format – dated, separate articles – which will give a clearer presentation and greatly simplify the archiving of older material.

We have the first meeting of the “re-badged” Family Finances Group next Thursday, 17 January, at the Guildford Masonic Centre. As usual, the meeting starts with coffee & biscuits at 10.00am.
This meeting will be a general discussion under the Chairmanship of Alan Mansfield when everyone will have the opportunity of giving their “two pennyworth” on the revised structure & objectives of the Group, including what we would like to talk about, the type of Guest Speakers in the future, etc.. We will also share our views on the present stock-market and investment conditions but try to avoid talking about Brexit – However, we may fail in the case of the latter !

This was our first lunch beginning 30 minutes earlier than hitherto, and announcements before the actual lunch. The bar opened at 11.30, the bell was rung at 12.30 and the meeting closed at 14.50pm. The feedback has been positive so far.
Our speaker, Susan Purcell, took as her subject “Rise & Demise of Accents and Dialects.” She carried off this challenging subject splendidly, and at the end of 40 minutes most listeners would have been happy for her to continue for the same time again. The scope, and depth, of questions that followed indicate an audience enthusiastic, even enthralled.
We welcomed a number of guests, who we hope may have enjoyed themselves sufficiently to consider applying for membership. A new member, Steve Hodge, was welcomed and inducted by Chairman Jay Woogara.
Next month’s speaker is Gordon Bridger, whose talk is entitled “The British Empire.”
It has been decided to change the name of our Investment Group to “Family Finances Group.” The first meeting under the new guise is Thursday, Jnauary 17th. The per session cost rises to £4 whilst the annual cost is unchanged at £25.

Our speaker Susan Purcell and some members of her audience.

We’re starting half an hour earlier in 2019! From the January 2019 Meeting onwards the bar will open at 11.30 am for the meeting to start at 12.30 pm (not 1pm as previously). Arrive at the “old” time and the rest of us may have already run the place out of Doom Bar.

Our speaker for January is Susan Purcell.Those of you who have been members of our Club for at least eight years may recall that Susan has given a previous presentation to the Club – on 7th April 2011 to be precise. Her subject then was ‘Dictionaries’ and John Coleman was our Speaker Secretary at the time. She tells us that the talk went down very well and she particularly remembers the ‘nice email of thanks and appreciation from John’.

On this occasion, Susan, who lives locally in Shalford, will talk to us about ‘Accents and Dialects, including the old Surrey Dialect’. Susan is a professional linguist, crossword compiler and editor, lexicographer (dictionary compiler) and the author of 12 books related to words and language.She is well regarded in her field of expertise and is currently the regional co-ordinator for the Society of Authors.

This was both most enjoyable and reasonably well attended.
Jay Woogara, our newly elected Chairman, welcomed guests respendently attired in a jacket we understand created by his wife, Alison. Our guest were both the Mayor and Mayoress of Guildford, but also our wonderful speaker, Mel Rees.
Guests were offered a refreshing glass of bubbly by Phillip Mansley before socialising. It was noticeable that most attendees arrived much earlier than normal which enabled most to enjoy nearly an hour chatting before lunch commenced.
The lunch produced by Vince, as ever, was both fulsome and well received. He was thanked, following the lunch, for the good service he, and his staff, have offered this past year.
Our speaker, Mel Rees, took as his subject “My Family and other Meerkats. He held us both spellbound, and in stitches, at times, as he meandered through many of life’s happenings, lifting examples from his family upbringing, centred on the views and attitude of his mother.
Mel has written a number of books, from which, we are sure, much material for his talk was drawn. The class differences of adjacent communities, the accent differences of almost neighbours, all received the Mel Rees treatment – ” No, I’m not a snob.” His talk was without notes, and as our Chairman noted, for the first time in many a year, there was no sign of anyone nodding off during the talk – other than falling of their chairs with laughter. Mel is proudly politically incorrect – and that was very apparent at times!

Our Chairman, Jay Woogara, with his wife and the Mayor and Mayoress of Guildford

Our speaker Mel Rees in full flow