Evesham Probus Club Meetings in 2025
PROBUS TALK 24.04.2025
On 27th April we welcomed back Nigel Thompson from Probus Twyning branch, Gloucestershire who has given us several talks. His subject was Raymond Base, Flight Engineer on Lancaster bombers during WW11, who was a member of the same Probus branch. He lived into his nineties and died a few years ago.
Raymond was born in 1925 in Hall Green, Birmingham and studied engineering at Mossley Hill near Liverpool. He was in the school ATC and became an expert on aircraft recognition. He started an apprenticeship with Napier Engineering, part of English Electric. The firm was famous for cars, racing cars, marine diesels and the Sabre 24-cylinder engine which powered the Hawker Typhoon and Tempest aircraft which achieved 404 mph in level flight. The Deltic diesel locomotive used on the East Coast main line from Kings Cross to Scotland was powered by a Napier engine.
As background to WW11 Nigel mentioned the seaplane races held in the 1930s for the Schneider Trophy, presented by a wealthy French aircraft enthusiast, Jacques Schneider. It was won by the Supermarine S6B designed by Reginald Mitchell, famous for the Spitfire land-based fighter which was a derivative of the S6B. The competition was intended to further advances in civil aviation, although a plane capable of exceeding 400mph in level flight had obvious military applications, but in the pacifist 1930s and the unwillingness to rearm, the British government withdrew funding for the S6B and it was privately funded by the wealthy Lucy, Lady Houston who gave £100,000.
Reginald Base did not complete his apprenticeship but volunteered for the RAF where he became a Flight Engineer, a role which was responsible for the working of everything on the aircraft. At St. Athan Maintenance Unit in South Wales one of the tasks he had was to take apart a Tiger Moth biplane (used for pilot training) and reassemble it. In 1943 he joined a squadron flying Lancasters, the most successful of the several heavy bombers of WW11 and was promoted to sergeant.
The Lancaster was built by A.V. Roe and designed by Roy Chadwick. It was powered by four Rolls Royce Merlin 27 litre engines rated at 2000 hp. Some were built by Packard in America who supplied each engine with a complete tool kit. In the UK it was also built in seven factories. A total of 7377 Lancasters were built and 2249 were lost in action. 35 squadrons were equipped with Lancasters. It had a restricted entry and exit via the fuselage for all crew and was therefore a difficult aircraft to exit in an emergency. The survival rate for crew was 15%. The largest bomb it carried was the 22,000lb Grand Slam, carried under the fuselage, whereas smaller bombs were carried on board in the bomb bay. Bombs were attached to cables and on opening the bomb bay doors these cables were severed and only then were the bombs primed.
One interesting fact about bombing strategy was that US aircraft were escorted by fighters to the target and back whereas the RAF bombers flew unaccompanied at night. The Americans followed suit later in the war. The RAF bombers’ accuracy was poor. It was reckoned only 1 in 3 bombs were dropped within 5 miles of the target. The reason was poor direction finding which improved in 1944 with the introduction of the Radar Direction Device. The RAF’s bombing strategy was the responsibility of ‘Bomber’ Harris, the controversial Commander in Chief, Bomber Command. The most disputed decision concerned the carpet bombing of Dresden in 1945. Criticism of the bombing policy was voiced, even by Churchill himself, but it was always maintained that it was justified on military grounds. Bomber Command was not even mentioned by Churchill in his victory speech. Despite the death rate of bomber crews being 44.4% the divided opinion on the subject of bombing strategy can be judged by the fact that it was not until 1992 that a statue of Bomber Harris was erected outside the RAF church of St. Clement Danes in the Strand, London and not until 1992 was a memorial to Bomber Command erected in Green Park.
When the war ended and Reginald Base ceased operational duties he was demoted, as was common practice, and was transferred to the drawing office at St Athan where he worked on the Folland Gnat (used by the Red Arrows) and Concorde. He was demobbed at Squires Gate, Blackpool in 1947. On retirement he enjoyed driving and boating on the River Severn.
This was a well-researched presentation with plenty of background information on the aircraft of World War 11.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 17.04.2025
Our member Grenville Burrows was the speaker on 17th April with a presentation entitled “Taking the Bullet Train”. It was in fact a summary of Japanese history and geography followed by a leisurely visit to some of the places served by the famous Japanese train.
Japan is an island state consisting of 500 islands of which the principal four are, in order of size, Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Honshu is the seventh largest island in the world (Britain is ninth). The country is mountainous with very little level land and the population is therefore restricted to the coastal strip. As a result, the coast is very densely populated. If you think of Japan what immediately comes to mind are Mount Fuji and cherry blossom. The religion in Japan is Shinto, a belief in spirits which are nature-based and in which fertility is very important. A Shinto shrine is a gateway to the natural world. The second religion is Buddhism which came to Japan in the sixth century and whose temples are often close to Shinto shrines.
The Japanese imperial family can be traced back to 660 BC and the first verifiable emperor, Kinmei, to 540 BC. From 794 BC the capital was Kyoto. Power was later transferred to a military organisation, the Shogunate who moved the capital to Edo (now Tokyo) in 1600. In 1641 Japan closed its borders, largely to prevent missionaries from Spain and Portugal trying to convert the country to Christianity. China and the Netherlands were however exempt from this ban. In 1853 the US Commander Perry with four ships opened the way for foreigners to be admitted to Japan and so the country began the process of adapting to the modern world. The Shogunate collapsed in 1868 and Meiji became Emperor based in the capital Tokyo.
Japanese dress is quite distinctive, the kimono being worn by men and women. Communal bath houses (sexes separated) are another Japanese tradition. Wood block printing was another tradition, Mount Fuji being a favourite subject.
The Japanese rail network was built to a gauge of 3ft. 6in. in view of the terrain which made standard gauge impracticable. However, as the economy expanded capacity on the lines between the principal cities was reached and the journey times possible on these slow and roundabout routes were no longer competitive, so a standard gauge line on which much higher speeds could be achieved was planned. Shinkansen (new trunk line) is the official name for the pioneer high speed line on which the “bullet train” operates. It opened in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka and reduced the journey time from 6 hours 40 minutes of the fastest train to 3 hours 10 minutes. Such was its success that it has been extended to many more cities in Japan, including a connection to Hokkaido. High speed lines now exist throughout the European mainland, China and elsewhere.
Grenville’s tour started in Tokyo, a city of superlatives with 14 million people (41million in Greater Tokyo). It has the world’s tallest tower, the Skytree, the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world and is the electronics centre of the country. It is a forest of skyscrapers but there are sanctuaries of peace and tranquillity, river walks, a large park near the imperial palace and cherry trees everywhere. Grenville described Japanese landscaping as planned to look random. He also featured a “maid café” where you pay by the hour not by the food you eat and a slot machine hall. There is plenty of night life in the city.
Next stop was Kyoto which was not bombed by the US in WW2 in view of its cultural heritage. We saw a clip of the film Lost in Translation starring Scarlett Johansen which features the song Alone in Kyoto.
Nara was reached by conventional train from Kyoto and has one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries in Japan. One has a bronze Buddha weighing 64 tons. The park, like many in Japan contains tame deer, known as messengers of the gods.
Kurashiki is an inland port and merchant city where many European-style factories were built producing textiles etc.
Hiroshima needs no introduction as it was the place where the first atomic bomb was dropped on 6th April 1945. The epicentre of the blast is now occupied by a hospital. A ruined exhibition building survived as it was built to European standards and is kept as a relic. The city naturally contains many monuments including a cenotaph containing 225,000 names and a mound of cremated remains, a children’s monument which includes a two year old girl who survived but died of leukaemia at the age of 12, and one to 20,000 Korean slaves killed.
The last place visited was Fukuoka, a modern city only 150 years old. It features canals and a five level shopping centre with 250 shops, a theatre, restaurant and cinemas. Grenville showed the 25th anniversary celebrations with fountains playing to an accompanied by music which was a version of Land of Hope and Glory! Whether Elgar would have approved I somehow doubt.
Thanks to Grenville for a marathon presentation which gave a fascinating picture of a country which few, if any, of us have visited.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 03.04.2025
Our speaker on 3rd April was our life member Clive Allen. His subject was History of Warships. He gave various examples of warships through the ages starting with ancient Egypt and the Minoans from Crete whose craft were propelled by oars and maybe a small sail. The Romans fought on land, their ships being used as transports to supply the empire.
The Vikings from Scandinavia were famous seafarers who raided Britain, Ireland and points west, eventually reaching North America, centuries before Columbus sighted the New World. Their longships propelled by oars and a sail struck terror into the local population whenever they were sighted. King Alfred formed the first navy in this country to counter this threat. The Vikings also moved east from Sweden, across what is now Russia and Ukraine and through the Black Sea to reach Constantinople (now Istanbul).
Moving swiftly on to Henry VIII’s time we saw his revolutionary flagship, the Mary Rose, the remains of which can be seen at Portsmouth after it was raised from the seabed of the Solent. A masted sailing ship fully armed with cannon was a significant advance in warship design.
The story of Drake and the destruction of the Spanish Armada is well known. English ships were faster so he knew he had time to chase the enemy up the Channel. However, the Navy was short of cannon balls as Elizabeth I had only authorised a limited number so fire ships had to be used. This did not however prevent the Queen from exulting in a great victory.
In the American War of Independence Britain did not perform well and ship design was improved. The Confederate Forces in the American Civil War introduced a new concept, a pedal-powered submarine operated by the crew inside the hull.
The introduction of wooden-hulled steam-powered ironclads by the French led to the Royal Navy introducing HMS Warrior and HMS Black Prince with iron hulls, steam-powered but still with sails. A model of Warrior was exhibited – the actual vessel can be seen in Portsmouth Harbour. Submarines were developed by Russia and Germany and were very effective in both world wars. In WW1 the Germans also introduced battle cruisers and sea plane carriers.
Clive gave an account of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign in 1915, an amphibious invasion in the Dardanelles against Turkey ordered by Churchill when First Lord of the Admiralty. A ‘Trojan Horse’ was also featured, a requisitioned collier carrying troops which was beached and the troops ferried ashore. This was another disaster, and the ship became a death trap.
Moving onto WW2 Clive featured the transatlantic Cunard liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth requisitioned to carry troops from the USA to Britain. They did not travel in convoys like other merchant ships because their speed allowed them to outrun any enemy warships. WW11 saw the end of the battleship as an effective deterrent as they were so vulnerable to bombing. The Japanese had the biggest such vessel and it was sunk by the Americans. The US fleet bombed at Pearl Harbor did not include any aircraft carriers as they were out on exercises, otherwise the losses would have been magnified. The sinking of the German battleships Bismarck, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Tirpitz were famous exploits of WWII which were given priority in view of the havoc they wrought on Allied shipping. Their destruction was a great boost to morale in Britain. Bombing played a major part in disabling them and keeping them out of action before they were eventually sunk.
Clive mentioned that his home town of Hartlepool was shelled in both world wars by German warships. Aircraft carriers played a big part in naval warfare. The first with a full-length flight deck was HMS Argus which entered service in 1918.
Following the talk, a member pointed out that during the Ukrainian conflict drones have been effective in sinking vessels of the Russian navy in the Black Sea, replacing bombing by manned aircraft, thereby demonstrating that technological developments are always changing the rules.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 27.03.2025
Our Secretary, Christian Lang, was the speaker on 27th March. Unfortunately, he was unable to give the full presentation owing to technical difficulties which the assembled brains of Probus armed with a selection of cables were unable to resolve.
The title of the talk was “The Man from Selsey”. Selsey is a small coastal village in West Sussex, south of Chichester. The village was where the first Birdman Competition was held where people attempt to fly off the pier. (The venue has since moved to nearby Bognor Regis and Worthing after the demise of Selsey Pier.) He immediately told us The Birdman was not the subject of the talk but Selsey’s most famous resident, Patrick Moore.
Patrick was born in 1923 in Pinner NW London and died in 2012. Christian met him at a dinner party where he dominated the occasion. He never married, allegedly because his fiancée Lorna was killed in WW2. Patrick was notorious for blending fact with fiction when dealing with his personal life, in contrast to his unrivalled mastery of astronomy, a subject in which he was globally acknowledged to be an expert, despite having no formal education in the subject, an astonishing achievement.
He was privately educated at home in East Grinstead because he had a heart problem. He was given a book entitled “The Story of the Solar System” and at the age of six he bought a telescope for 7/6d and joined the British Astronomical Society at the age of eleven.
In WW2 he joined the Home Guard where his father was a Platoon Commander. In 1941 he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve and trained as a navigator in Canada. He became a Pilot Officer and joined Bomber Command five days before the end of the war. His autobiography reveals his starstruck mindset as his war record is dramatically embellished, particularly an incident with a Wellington bomber which he claimed was on combat operations when actually he was still in training at the time. After the war he joined a preparatory school, Holmewood House, near Tunbridge Wells, teaching history and French.
He wrote 160 books on astronomy. He produced a 25ft. map of the lunar surface which was used by NASA. In 1957 he started presenting The Sky at Night on BBC TV, a series which continued until 2013, the last programme being shown in the year after his death the previous December. It was the longest running programme with the same presenter and in all that time he only missed one through illness. He never took any remuneration from the BBC. In 1961 the programme featured Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering space flight. Patrick met him and all the other astronauts. Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong appeared on the programme.
Patrick was very generous, funding many educational foundations. In later years he ran into financial difficulties and Brian May, the Queen guitarist and astrophysicist, bought his house and leased it to him for a peppercorn rent. It is now a museum.
Christian painted a vivid picture of the man with a monocle who was universally known for his ability to explain what could be seen of the solar system, despite having no academic qualifications. It was a pity we were not able to see the full presentation, but we can look forward to a part 2.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 20.03.2025
On 20th March our member John Redman gave us a very personal account of various aspects of his life intriguingly entitled “About owls and other things” thereby giving us little clue as to what he would be talking about.
He started with an account of Manchester Grammar School which he attended. It was founded by Hugh Oldham in 1515 who was born in 1452 and went to both Oxford and Cambridge universities. He became Bishop of Exeter and founded Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He had a connection with Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. He died in 1519. Owls were a feature of his Coat of Arms and became the symbol of the school and used as a badge on boys’ blazers. This school was a direct grant establishment which meant it was funded by the education authority but was independent. It had a swimming pool where everybody swam naked. It was, of course, a boys’ school. His education continued at Birmingham University where he studied civil engineering.
He then moved on to cars he had owned, starting with a Fiat Topolino, a small car only capable of 50mph. While working on the Christmas post, as many students did at the time, he met the girl who became his wife. He bought a two tone Anglia from his father, followed by a Hillman Imp, a Cortina, a Maxi and Renaults. When he had an epileptic fit he was not allowed to drive for a year but has never had one since. At this time he was in the antiques business but in the 1980s recession he worked for a fitted kitchen company. He then bought a burnt out Lancia Beta HPE coupé for £800 and spent a week restoring it and had it for six years. He borrowed a Stag, bought it, completely restored it and had it for 28 years. Then he bought a Lancia HPE Volumex which he had for two years before it was written off by someone driving into the back. Finally, he had a Ford Ka which he still has.
Turning to his house he showed us a Welsh dresser dating from c.1830, full of turned woodware, which he admitted was a pain to dust. He also has a collection of 200 keys, some of them Georgian. A couple of family photos and their joint passport dating from just after WW1 were also shown.
To conclude, John read us some bedtime stories:- Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussy Cat, dating from 1872 and AA Milne’s Bold Sir Brian Botany and Happiness, the story of John.
After the end of his talk John showed us some of his extensive collection of tools which he is always adding to.
This was yet another talk demonstrating the wide variety of interests of members of Probus which makes it such a worthwhile club to belong to.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 13.03. 2025
Our member Les Hatcher stepped in on 13th March in place of the advertised speaker who was unavailable. His subject was “Flying the English Electric Lightning supersonic jet fighter”. He previously gave a talk on this subject on 18th April 2024.
This time he concentrated on the deficiencies of this pioneering aircraft, starting with what is now the Ministry of Defence. He considered the system of procurement was wasteful and that the frequent turnover of civil servants with senior officers serving their final years before retirement was a recipe for lack of accountability. Flight Sergeants served on committees, but their views were not taken into account. The positioning of one engine above one other led to fuel leaks which was a fire hazard. The hydraulic actuation of the fin could be burnt through if fire broke out and the components in the fuselage were operated at above design temperatures. The aircraft was heavy and despite the fitting of ventral fuel tanks had limited range, particularly when flying supersonic. The thin wings could only accommodate limited fuel tanks. The undercarriage was unsatisfactory with very thin tyres which had to be replaced frequently and when there was a crosswind it made the aircraft unstable on landing. The armament consisted of two missiles and two cannon which were unreliable. The cockpit was very cramped compared with American aircraft which he considered superior in many respects.
The Lightning had many variants over the years. It was the last supersonic aircraft to be wholly designed in the UK. Despite Les’s opinion that it was a dangerous aircraft to fly it saw frontline service in in the RAF from 1960 to 1988. At least 20 pilots were killed and there were many ejections. There were some graphic photos of some of the accidents.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 06.03.2025
On 6th March Sue Ablett spoke to us about the Evesham Festival of Words, the title of which was “Bums on Seats”, a behind the scenes look at how the festival started and grew into a year-long event. Sue is the dynamic chair of the committee who organise the festival.
The festival started in 2016 but there was a precedent which lasted for two years held at the Evesham Hotel. It was not well advertised and made a big loss.
Sue demonstrated the surprising number of festivals organised in Evesham including the Battle of Evesham re-enactment, the medieval fair, various food fairs etc. To organise a festival you need a fresh title (not Literary Festival as that was deemed too highbrow), branding, value and a business model to determine costs and likely income. To make it work you need to keep your finger on the pulse. You need a constitution, a bank account, a website and produce publicity. You need to know how to deliver which comes from previous experience.
Big names bring in people but are expensive. It’s who you know. A festival bookshop was set up with local authors. A competition was run for short stories but had to be discontinued as it incurred too much work.
In year 1 (2016) there was good feedback and it made a small profit. In year 2 (2017) the festival was held over more days and in 2018 it expanded further. In 2019 a quiz night was held and hosted the first visit of the Mikron Theatre (a group who travel the country by narrowboat) at Raphaels. Disaster struck in 2020 when all the brochures had to be recycled because of Covid. There was the odd lockdown in 2021 but a photo competition was held, also the Little Free library was set up on the basis of take one book, bring another back, an idea which has been adopted in 120 countries. 2022 featured a painted bench, an idea which spread. That year was make or break year as the after-effects of Covid and the reluctance to socialise were still apparent.
2023 saw the Festival become a year-long event which continued in 2024 and, as was apparent from the programme left on each table, will be the case in 2025.
Finding speakers is having the contacts and simply asking and Sue mentioned several. Prue Leith gave a talk to a local WI group and agreed to speak at the Festival but was bound by contract with the BBC not to discuss the Great British Bake Off. The local farming hero Joan Bomford who appeared on BBC Countryfile (Up with the Lark) featured, also a Penguin Books’ book cover designer and the author of Mistress and Commander, Amelia Dalton. The re-interment of King Richard III from under a car park to Leicester Cathedral was a highlight, a talk given by the priest who organised it. All speakers are paid. Little details are important such as tea and home-made cakes.
There are partnerships with Holland House, Cropthorne, Evesham Walking Festival, Evesham Vale Cycling Club, Evesham & District Music Club, Evesham Operatic & Dramatic Society and various venues such as Evesham Rowing Club, the Henrician and Ecgwins Club.
Sue mentioned some tricky moments when a local reporter turned up to Prue Leith’s talk intending to ask her about the Bake-off but was gently persuaded not to because of the contract already mentioned. The Indian crime writer Vaseem Khan only spoke for 45 minutes instead of an hour but Sue asked him several questions which he answered at length. Giles Shenton’s one man show at the Town Hall was severely affected by loud music from the Valkyrie Bar below, despite assurances that this would not happen. Romeo & Juliet at Bretforton by HandleBards, Shakespearean actors, was ruined by a failure to realise that Monday was bellringing practice night. It is essential to drop things that don’t work. The support of volunteers is crucial – there are six on the committee.
Several people have commented that the Festival is better than some much bigger festivals. There are challenges such as commitment from volunteers and the need to give attention to detail. Scanning this year’s Festival programme reveals several new features such as Kath Ryan the Cake Lady, Long Lost Family presenter Ariel Bruce, wildlife photographer Jo Thomas and the author Robert Arley.
As there was no Festival in 2020, 2026 will mark the tenth anniversary. I’m sure members appreciated Sue’s dedication in organising this Festival and how much work is involved. She is also a distance runner (amongst several other things!). As a keen attender of many Festival events I can thoroughly recommend them but book early as some sell out quickly.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 27.08.2025
Our speaker on 27th February was Galen Bartholomew whose subject was “SS Suevic against all the odds” the astonishing story of the wreck of a White Star liner off the Cornish coast on 17th March 1907 and how all on board were rescued by the RNLI in horrendous conditions. Galen had a personal connection as his great grandmother and great aunt were aboard.
The Suevic was en route from Melbourne to Plymouth and London when it was caught in a south westerly gale Force 8 in dense fog off The Lizard, the most southerly point of the British mainland, although the Captain thought he was off Land’s End. It went aground on Men’Hyr reef which is submerged at high tide. With an eighteen foot swell it was not possible to launch any lifeboats from the ship although two were swung out and people boarded them but had to be brought back on board.. The rescue operation started twelve hours after the liner went aground and relied entirely on the bravery of the men manning the lifeboats from four nearby stations. However, such was the intensity of the storm that the lifeboat from Porthleven to the west of the Lizard took so long to reach the wreck that it played only a minor part. It should be borne in mind that at that time lifeboats were open boats rowed by six men. Communications were difficult as the local telephone system was not working properly. The total number of passengers and crew rescued was 456 - a record which stands to this day. Not one life was lost. [On the same day the SS Jebba was wrecked off the coast of South Devon and all 155 people on board were saved making a total of 611 that day. In the Jebba’s case everybody was rescued by means of a line between ship and shore.]
Many were landed at the small village of Cadgwith where the locals rallied round and fed the survivors and kept them in the warm. Others were taken in small boats to Falmouth and put on trains to London. The GWR also kept the branch line to Helston open all night to transport people to the main line trains.
Next morning the storm abated and the question of salvage was tackled. The decision was taken to split the vessel into two as the stern was the least damaged part. This was done by explosive charges as oxyacetylene was not available then, a dangerous practice as shrapnel landed up to half a mile away. After four days of blasting, the stern went to Southampton under its own power with two tugs providing the steering. A new bow, longer than the original, was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast where the ship was built and towed to Southampton to be welded to the stern. By 14th January 1908 the job was complete. The ship duly returned to service with White Star Line on the six weeks’ run to Melbourne.
At the Court of Enquiry into the accident Captain Noble was held responsible by faulty navigation, for not using the sounding line (echo sounders were not invented until 1913), for not reducing speed and not altering course. However, he was commended on his exemplary conduct during the rescue operation for being present the whole time and calming and reassuring passengers. Suevic was retired in 1928 and converted into a whaling factory ship named Skytteren for use in the south Atlantic. She was in Gothenburg in 1940 when the Germans were threatening to invade neutral Sweden. In company with other ships, she tried to reach British waters. Some did, some were sunk but Skytteren was one of four scuttled in 1942 when they met German warships and her crew taken prisoner by the Germans.
Galen concluded by outlining the scope of the RNLI which was founded in 1824 and has saved 144,00 lives since then with the loss of 624 volunteers. It operates 238 lifeboat stations throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland. Its latest sophisticated vessel cost £2.7million, part of its annual budget of around £230m. Galen’s fee for the talk was donated to the RNLI, a charity which is wholly dependent on voluntary contributions as were the proceeds from the sales of his booklet on the rescue operation which several members bought.
Galen undertook a considerable amount of research in fact checking every detail which made for a masterful presentation which held our attention throughout.
Alan Smith
PROBUS AGM and PRESIDENT’S PARTY 20.02.2025​
The AGM was held on 20th February and President Phil Bawn handed over his chain of office to Peter Marshall. There was one nomination for Vice-President, John Gibbs who was voted in. The rest of the committee was returned to office unopposed. Phil said he had thoroughly enjoyed his term of office and I’m sure all members enjoyed having him as President. As is usual he was presented with an engraved silver plate to mark his year of service.
As a break with tradition, we had a speaker after the AGM. John Hemmings was a friend of Phil’s and his subject was “I ran away to join the wireless”. Having been a freelance on local radio, around his 50th birthday he joined local radio and had the security of a full-time job although he had to get up at 4 a.m. to start at 6 a.m. He related that bad language sometimes went out on air such was the state of local broadcasting at the time. One outstanding event was being Father Christmas and being flown by helicopter to Cheltenham Racecourse. The learner pilot was a businessman with an instructor on board. Charity events were a staple of local radio such as three men dressed as women and miming to the Andrews sisters. The station employed a retired vicar who commented on stories in local newspapers. He was a bit absent-minded and managed to set the fire alarm off one day by turning the toaster up to full and causing the premises to be evacuated.
There were daily guests covering different subjects each day including Barbara Dickson, Chris Barber and Dr. Mark Porter, a part-time GP from Stroud who gave advice on listeners’ health problems and on one occasion covered the topic of returning to work after a heart attack. John was initially sceptical but, after he himself had a heart attack, he attributed his recovery to him. There was a Cliff Richard Fan Club in Gloucester and the man who ran it published a fanzine and advertised the radio presenter who played the most Cliff Richard records on air. The Covid restrictions caused the end of John’s job but he became a volunteer on internet radio from home. He concluded by saying how much he had enjoyed the job.
The morning ended with a splendid buffet laid on by Susie who looks after us so well throughout the year. We now look forward to Peter’s presidency and an eclectic variety of speakers organised by our speakers’ secretary, Richard Johnson.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 13.02.2025
Our member Michael Fitzgerald was the speaker at our meeting on 13th February with a talk about being a “news junkie,” as he put it.
He told us he starts listening to Radio Four at 5.30 a.m. with “News Briefing”, followed by the Today programme, the World at One at lunchtime and sometimes the PM programme in the afternoon. Apparently his TV tells him that his most frequently watched channel is the BBC News Channel. He also subscribes to two newspapers (he didn’t reveal which).
To demonstrate the power of newspapers in the twentieth century he quoted the work of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on the Washington Post, who exposed Richard Nixon’s role in the burglary of the Watergate Building. This scandal led to Nixon’s resignation as President. The Washington Post also published the secret “Pentagon Papers” which showed how successive presidents had lied about the threat from North Vietnam when they knew that to continue the war was a lost cause. These two stories were to promote the newspaper from a provincial publication to a national institution and be the subject of two award-winning movies.
Before joining the BBC, which will be the subject of a second talk, Michael was a reporter on two local weekly newspapers in the West Country before becoming a sub-editor on the Western Morning News in Plymouth.
He reminded us there was no such notion of “the media” when he began work in the 1950s. The only real sources of new were newspapers, the BBC Home Service and BBC TV newsreels. He lamented the vast array of unregulated social media today and the misuse of the ubiquitous mobile phone. Even we oldies at Probus no longer buy newspapers as we used to.
Michael recalled what an inspiration were Alastair Cooke’s Letters from America. He told us that as a schoolboy he used to write commentaries on national and international events. A theme of the talk was how Michael’s grandfather, father and brother were all newspapermen. His grandfather Charles was art director of the Daily Mirror, a paper launched in 1903, aimed at a female readership, but which was deemed a failure by its owner Alfred Harmsworth. After a year it was turned into a pictorial paper, a forerunner of today’s tabloids. The new editor sacked all the female staff!
Charles, with other volunteers, kept the Mirror going during the General Strike of 1926 using Gestetner machines and a small printing works. It achieved an amazing 300,000 copies a day by the end of the strike.
Michael recounted his early life in Plymouth, dominated by the Nazi blitz on the city. His father was a freelance photographer during the war and as a five year old he sometimes acted as his lighting man, using a tray of magnesium powder as flash bulbs were not available during the war. 2500 people were killed in Plymouth during the blitz and 20,000 injured. Astonishingly, Plymouth was not on the list of cities earmarked for the evacuation of children. In fact, children from the Midlands had been evacuated to Plymouth. It was not until after the worst of the blitz in 1941 that evacuation began.
Nancy, Lady Astor, American-born wife of the Lord Mayor and the first woman to take her seat in the Commons, was instrumental in forcing Winston Churchill to visit the city to inspect the extent of the damage. The King and Queen had also visited Plymouth and left the city two hours before the Luftwaffe dropped 10,000 incendiary bombs.
It was as a reporter on two weekly newspapers that Michael learned the importance of being able to answer the following questions, where appropriate: Who? How? Why? When? Where? What? and how much? After National Service he joined Western Morning News, first as a reporter and then a s sub editor, before joining the Daily Herald as a “sub” in Manchester and London. In 1964 the Herald was relaunched as The Sun which later became a tabloid. As Michael put it “I was off before then”, having applied and secured a journalist’s role with the BBC in Newcastle upon Tyne, although he thought he’d be working in Manchester. It came as a bit of a shock that he would be working in Geordieland or “abroad” as he put it.
There will be a second talk to cover Michael’s experiences during his 28-year career with the BBC as television producer and editor.
Our thanks go to Michael for his presentation which demonstrated again what a diverse bunch we are in Probus with so many different backgrounds. We look forward to his next talk which will no doubt highlight the differences between the printed medium and the broadcast medium.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 06.02.2025
Our speaker on 6th February was Nigel Silman whose talk had the daunting title of “Biological Terrorism and Biological Warfare – How Great is the Threat?” As Emeritus Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of the West of England Bristol with 25 years of experience of working at Porton Down, he was well qualified to answer this question.
In his previous talk to us he explained the NHS role of Porton Down. This time he gave us the origins of the establishment in WW1 to research defence against bio warfare and also develop a biological weapons programme in case we ever needed to use them, although we never did. Biowarfare is defined as causing disease by means of agents such as air, water and food. The spectrum of risk covers natural diseases, accidents, sabotage/vandalism.
Deliberate use of biological agents is not new; it is recorded many times through history, such as arrows being dipped into manure and cadavers, plague victims being forcibly evicted and the poisoning of water supplies. In WW1 cattle cake was infected to deprive the enemy of food. In the USA, Native Americans were given smallpox-infected blankets. The Japanese used disease-bearing insects. Biological weapons are effective as they can be transmitted human to human to spread plague, TB and smallpox. Anthrax is an animal disease. Where animals die they leave a pool of blood, the spores leak into the ground and can remain active for hundreds of years. The spores create toxins which kill you.
In 1942 an experiment was carried out by Porton Down on the uninhabited island of Gruinard off the coast of NW Scotland near Ullapool, chosen because the prevailing southwest wind would not affect the mainland. Anthrax was released from a bomb and the extent of the plume was measured on sheep herded into pens at set distances up to half a mile away. The air was also sampled. It was the first study of its kind into biological warfare and could only have been carried out during the exigencies of war. The island was of course off bounds to the public and it was not until 1990 that it was declared clear of infection. It is now grazed by cattle and sheep.
Biological weapons and toxins were banned under a Convention at Geneva in 1925 and became effective in 1975. Of course, the usual suspects have not signed it.
There are, of course, other incidents which are not terrorism related. In 1984 there was an outbreak of salmonella at salad bars in Oregon, USA which was traced to the deliberate action of a cult leader. The motive was never established. In 1979 a fractured pipe at a biological weapons factory in Sverdlovsk, Russia released anthrax which caused 64 deaths and also killed cattle 50km. downwind. Another interesting case, in which Nigel was personally involved, was the unexplained death of a drummer in Scotland in 2006. Forensics had been called in and found nothing. Porton Down had no legal status in Scotland but it was discovered that the drums were supplied from a house in Belford near Bamburgh in England where they were made. Porton Down were then able to investigate and found it was full of anthrax which was traced to goat skins imported from West Africa used to cover the drums. The drummer’s house and village hall in Smailholm near Hawick in Scotland were then surveyed and also found to be contaminated. A US company was employed to clear it of anthrax. The incident was closed in 2007. A similar case occurred in Hackney, NE London. The house concerned was covered in a tent while decontamination was carried out and all traffic was diverted. There have been several similar cases in the USA.
Nigel concluded this fascinating talk by answering his own question about how great the threat is from offensive use of biological weapons by stating that chemical weapons are far more effective. As always, the interest of members can be gauged by the number of questions posed and it was obvious this was a subject of great interest to members given that terrorism is an ever-present threat.
Alan Smith
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PROBUS TALK 30.01.2025
The speaker on 30th January was Ian Boskett on the subject of The Great Train Robbery which took place on 8th August 1963. Although he gave this talk to us some years ago he continues to research the subject and find new facts, many as a result of members of the audience at his talks approaching him. This was his 151st talk on the subject!
Ian has a very entertaining style of presentation but he emphasised that the robbery should not be glamourised as it involved violence, widespread corruption and had devastating effects on the train crew and the postal workers on the train. The driver, Jack White, suffered traumatic headaches and although he returned to driving he was restricted to shunting duties until he retired.. The second man, David Whitby, was also traumatised and although he also returned to his job he died from a heart attack aged 34.
The train concerned was the up West Coast Postal TPO (Travelling Post Office) which ran from Glasgow to Euston nightly. Apart from its basic function of collecting and delivering mail en route it carried used bank notes to be destroyed by the Bank of England. These were not recorded so could not be traced. In the reverse direction new notes were sent from the Bank and there was therefore a record of the serial numbers. The money was carried in a High Value Coach (HVC) which had barred windows, additional bolts and catches, alarms etc. There were four of these vehicles plus a spare which lacked the high security of the HVCs. By bribing the BR carriage and wagon staff who maintained these vehicles it was arranged that none of the HCVs were available for service and the spare had to be used. All the information on the operation of the train was supplied by a senior Post Office security officer. The amount of money carried that night was far in excess of the usual sum as the previous weekend was a bank holiday.
As the train stopped at several stations where the police would be in attendance, the robbers planned to stop the train en route, detach the HVC and draw it forward to a remote spot between Leighton Buzzard and Cheddington .The getaway vehicle was parked at Bridego Bridge where the loot would be unloaded and taken to Leatherslade Farm, about thirty miles away.
The train was stopped at a signal by a technician by a simple ruse which was demonstrated by Ian with an actual signal. Instead of taking the bulb out which would have alerted the signalman to a fault, he covered it with a gardening glove and wired it to the red signal and the train came to a halt. The driver was coshed and handcuffed to the second man Whitby. The gang had recruited a retired driver to drive the train forward but his only experience was driving shunting locos and he was unable to operate the mainline diesel. Jack White was therefore untied, bleeding about the head and forced to drive the train to the designated bridge, where the cash was duly unloaded. Not all the bags were taken as the gang knew a freight train was due to pass and they would be spotted.
Leatherslade Farm was purchased by one of the gang with conveyancing done by someone who was a practising solicitor. £150K was distributed to each gang member as agreed and they played Monopoly with real money while lying low until it was obvious from listening to police radio that they had to leave much earlier than planned, leaving a cache of food behind. Ian went through all the details of how they were apprehended and eventually tried.
The maximum sentences of thirty years handed down in 1967 after the trial caused an outcry as they exceeded many sentences for serious offences against the person.
Ian’s talk was comprehensive and leavened with many snippets which I can’t do justice to in this brief report. It was a masterful presentation about a meticulously planned operation with some wonderful comic touches which many members said was probably one of the most entertaining Probus meetings they had attended.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 23.01.2025
Our speaker on 23rd January was Howard Robinson on the subject of Captain Bligh, whose name is inextricably linked with the famous mutiny, the subject of three Hollywood films. He was born in 1754 and was signed on for the Navy at the age of seven, becoming an able seaman in 1770 and a midshipman in 1771. He was selected by Captain Cook for his third and last Pacific voyage in 1776. He served in the Merchant Navy from 1783 and in 1787 became Commander (not Captain) of HMS Bounty, a 220-ton cutter. His task was to carry breadfruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies as food for slaves. The fruit was not tasty and needed flavouring. The voyage was delayed in reaching Tahiti and there was further delay as Bounty stayed in Tahiti for five months, waiting for the trees to mature so they could be transported in potted soil. With its easy lifestyle and abundance of available women, is it any wonder that the crew were reluctant to sail?
A mutiny took place on 28th April 1789 off the island of Tofua, part of Tonga, the leader being Fletcher Christian. Bligh and 20 men were placed in a 23ft. open boat with weapons, navigational aids, cutlasses, food for 44 days and water for a week. Four more men would have joined them, but the boat would have been overloaded and would have sunk. They attempted to obtain supplies in Tofua but were attacked by natives and one man was killed. As the nearest European settlement was Timor, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) that was where Bligh headed, a voyage of over 3600 miles achieved in 47 days. Soon after arrival three crew died from disease. En route Bligh (ever conscientious!) kept a log and charted the route taken.
Meanwhile the mutineers sailed the Bounty back to Tahiti, but fear of discovery led some to find and settle on an uninhabited island called Pitcairn, some later transferring to Norfolk Island. HMS Pandora was sent out to find and transport the crew back to Britain. At the court martial in 1792 on a charge of losing his ship, Bligh was acquitted and only three of the crew were convicted and hanged.
Bligh was involved in another mutiny in 1797 when the whole Royal Navy mutinied against not being paid and the low rates of pay. Bligh spoke up and said the men had a justifiable case.
In 1805 Bligh was appointed the fourth Governor of New South Wales to sort out the corruption practised by the military officers in charge. In 1808 they arrested him, and he was confined for a year before being deported to Tasmania. He was eventually replaced and returned to Britain. He rose to become a Vice-Admiral in 1814. He died in 1817. His grave and his house can be seen in Lambeth, South London.
Although he had character defects such as lack of a sense of humour, vanity, irascibility, pedanticism and volatile temper, he was no more a strict disciplinarian than were other officers of his time. Indeed, some of his punishments were more lenient. Howard clearly demonstrated that the common assumption that his harshness was the cause of the famous mutiny is a fallacy.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 16.01.2025
Our first scheduled meeting of the New Year was cancelled due to flooding so we started on 16th January in fine form with a record attendance of 38. Our member Les Hatcher gave a presentation about the air disaster which happened at the Shoreham Air Show on 22nd August 2015 and explained how it was an entirely preventable accident. As an experienced pilot in the RAF who taught aerobatics for six years he was well qualified to comment on what went wrong.
The pilot was Andy Hill who was flying a privately-owned Hawker Hunter two-seat jet fighter. He had spent six years in the RAF, the rest of his career being as a pilot in civil aviation. He was noted as being undisciplined and had limited experience of flying Hunters. It seems there were inadequate checks on his experience. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch report listed the facts but did not apportion blame.
Les listed the errors made in contravention of the rules for aerobatic manoeuvres which made an accident inevitable. Firstly, he took off downwind with all fuel tanks full, whereas the rules state that to minimise weight you only carry as much fuel as you need to execute the planned manoeuvres. The loop was started at too low an altitude, the angle was too steep, before the manoeuvre was completed the flaps were down resulting in a nose-down position and without maximum power a deep stall was inevitable. He should never have flown below 100ft., nor should he have flown over the busy A27. The crash onto the A27 caused eleven deaths, not to mention serious disruption. Incredibly, the pilot survived, still in his seat, as he had not ejected.
Having read the AAIB report which concluded the accident was caused by pilot error and also reading a report in The Times, Les wrote a letter to The Times, which was published. He offered to be an expert witness at the trial and was contacted by the police but never called. The pilot was charged with criminally negligent manslaughter. His defence was that he was overcome by gravitational forces, in other words he was blacking out. He was acquitted but his pilot’s licence was revoked and when he subsequently applied for the ban to be lifted, it was refused.
The inquest took place after the trial and the Coroner found the pilot was guilty of unlawful killing but no further action was taken. The reason the inquest was held after the trial was that it was thought it might prejudice the trial.
The accident led to the tightening up of rules regarding the use of jet aircraft at air shows and more checks on potential pilots and their previous experience.
This was a detailed technical appraisal of what the pilot did wrong, which I have simplified; it raised serious questions as to why he was acquitted.
Alan Smith
