Evesham Probus Club Meetings in 2026
PROBUS MEETING 19.02.2026
The AGM was held on 19th February and John Gibbs was elected as President for 2026/2027, with James Love as Vice-President. The Quaich was awarded to Jim Cox, a Life Member and ex-President for his continuous help at meetings over many years, not to mention his joke-telling.
To fill the gap between the bar opening and lunch Chris Donough asked Nigel Jenkins why he joined Probus, which opened the way for Chris to ask several others the same question and particularly the more recent members who may not be so well-known to more long-standing members. This raised the point that has been mentioned previously that we tend to sit at the same tables each week and not circulate. It is essential we make new members welcome. Both the outgoing and incoming Presidents said we had a great club, both for its sociability, relaxed atmosphere and the variety of talks each week for which Richard Johnson, Speakers Secretary was thanked. The proof of this is the number of members attending each week which has reached record levels.
The morning finished with an excellent buffet provided by Suzie who looks after us so well all year.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 12.02.2026
On 12th February our member Mike Fitzgerald treated us to a presentation about his climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in 1991 at the age of 55; together with some superb photos of the wildlife on the African plains at the foot of this free-standing mountain, the highest in the world. At 19,341 ft. it’s the highest mountain in Africa and is situated on the Equator in Tanzania, although the ascent starts in Kenya. It is classified as a dormant volcano although the last eruption was many thousands of years ago.
The first European to see the mountain was the German Johannes Rebman in 1848. His discovery was dismissed as fantasy by the Royal Geographical Society as a snow-covered mountain on the Equator was not thought to be possible. The first recorded climb was in 1889 by another German Hans Meyer, accompanied by the famous Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller and a guide from the local Chagga tribe, Yohane. The party was supported by local tribal leaders, porters and a cook. A memorial to Meyer was erected in Kilimanjaro National Park. There is a second memorial to Yohane which records his date of birth as 1871 and death in 1996, aged 125! The mountain was named Uhuru (Freedom) to celebrate independence. The conditions were worse in 1889 as the ice on the summit has since reduced by around 80%. This area has attracted many famous authors such as Hemingway, Karen Blixen (Out of Africa), Elspeth Huxley and the American Negley Farson.
This was Mike’s first visit to Africa. He had experience of mountaineering in Scotland, the Peruvian Andes while filming for the BBC and where he found he was not susceptible to altitude sickness, and a climbing course in Austria. One of his fellow travellers was Robin Page, a farmer and conservationist, who presented the TV series One Man and His Dog, about sheepdog trials, by Mike’s description a larger-than-life character. He met him on the Scottish island of Tiree while filming an edition of Country File. It was here that Robin mentioned he would like to go back to Kilimanjaro to see whether the glaciers were melting. Mike said he’d like to join him.
Mike’s journey to Kilimanjaro started in Nairobi. After a journey of 165 miles along dirt roads in a clapped-out Land Cruiser, the party crossed the border into Tanzania at Loitokitak, where they stayed at an Outward Bound School, where the risks and hazards of the climb were explained and that 200-300 people have died in the attempt. It is essential to drink four litres of water a day, eat plenty of carbohydrates and go slowly. The key phrase in high altitudes is ‘climb high, sleep low’ which means ascend 1000 ft. then return for the night. This is a rest and recovery process but doesn’t work above 17,000ft. where altitude acclimatisation starts. If in doubt, go down. It takes ten people to take six people up the mountain. Mike’s party was guided by two former poachers who found tourism a more profitable occupation. The start was in equatorial rain forest, where Mike was impressed by the constant noise of wildlife and the profusion of butterflies, and progresses through four further major climate zones to the summit. Sleeping was mostly in tents or caves. The night before the final climb was spent in a freezing hut with solar panels for light but not heat.
However, it was a short night as, not long after midnight, they set off for the final ascent (a vertical difference of 700ft.) which had to be done at night while the scree was frozen. Mike hyperventilated (a good thing) – the noise was described as a cross between a dying duck and a rutting rhino. He had a raging thirst because the water was frozen and the chocolate he’d taken was inedible. When day broke the task was to climb a steep slope covered in boulders and loose scree up 3,500 ft. in a horizontal distance of 3,000 yards. Five of the party reached the summit which took seven hours. Down the scree back to the hut took two hours, and then down 12,000 vertical ft. Then down another 12,000 ft. when it was noted that during the night the summit had been covered by snow. Mike’s last photo of the mountain was an aerial shot taken of the caldera of the volcano when on a flight from South Africa, a few years later.
To finish Mike showed some shots which he and his wife had taken on nine previous safari trips, of the wildlife which abounds on the plains in two National Parks. Although we are familiar with them from numerous nature programmes, it must be thrilling to experience the animals close to. One of the places shown was the largest intact caldera, the famous Ngorongoro crater.
Finally, he showed a video of the oldest person to conquer Kilimanjaro, an American lady who was 89, also a clip of a safari trip he is due to go on later this year in Botswana – let’s hope he gives another presentation!
This was a superb show for which we thank Mike. It was a stunning feat to achieve this arduous climb.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 05.02.2026
On 5th February one of our regular speakers. Howard Robinson, gave us a talk on “Titanic - the wreck today”. The site of the wreck was discovered by means of a submersible in 1985, in two sections at a depth of 37,000 ft. off the coast of Newfoundland.
He started with a detailed description of the liner which was the largest ship in the world when it was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast between 1909 and 1912. It was constructed in the graving dock next to the Olympic, a sister ship of the White Star Line, Liverpool, completed a year earlier. It contained three million rivets, many hammered in when red hot by two men. The design team of four included the naval architect Thomas Andrews and the chief draughtsman Alexander Carlisle who was responsible for the interiors. Although it had four funnels only three were functional, the fourth being provided for aesthetic reasons. The ship was driven by reciprocating engines powered by 25 double ended boilers and four single ended, also a steam turbine. They were manually fed by 176 stokers, working four hours on and eight hours off. The coal was supplied by trimmers whose duties also involved trimming the bunkers so that the stability of the vessel was not affected. 100 tons was burnt daily. The output was 46000 hp. The three propellers drove the ship at 23/24 knots. The wireless room had the latest Marconi technology, operated by the firm’s staff.
The sequence of events leading to the disaster has been portrayed in many films and documentaries with, inevitably, varying degrees of accuracy. Although the presence of icebergs in the area was known beforehand, the captain chose to maintain virtually full speed, relying on lookouts. The first advice by the crow’s nest of an iceberg being sighted was not answered by the captain and when the iceberg was sighted at close range the captain ordered “hard to port” which caused steel plates to buckle below the waterline on the starboard side and allow ingress of water. Five bulkheads were breached which sealed the ship’s fate as it was only designed to withstand the breaching of three. Had the ship hit the iceberg head on it would have caused major structural damage but the ship might have been saved. The difficulty of giving an accurate estimation of how far away the iceberg was was affected by the phenomenon of temperature inversion which gave a false horizon. The sea was calm and so there was no surf breaking against the iceberg. Other factors were the presence on board of J. Bruce Ismay, the chairman of White Star Line, who was anxious that the ship would beat the Olympic’s time for the passage to New York the previous year. Because the ship was ‘unsinkable’ there was an air of complacency on board and. although there would be 2½ hours before the vessel sank, much time was wasted in evacuating the passengers, caused by lack of communication and ignorance. (The subsequent inquiry found the crew to be inadequately trained.)* Although the number of lifeboats met the maritime regulations then in force they were not sufficient to accommodate everybody on board as their purpose was to ferry passengers to a rescue ship in an emergency. Their capacity was limited to 1178 people. Anybody who jumped overboard and was not picked up would die of hypothermia in twenty minutes. Of the 2224 people on board 710 (32%) survived. This included 62% of 1st class passengers, 42% of second class passengers and 26% of third class passengers. There were two enquiries, one in the UK and one in the USA and led to the tightening of maritime safety regulations, particularly the provision of lifeboats to accommodate all those on board.
Howard showed many photos of the interior of the ship, many taken by Francis Browne a Irish Jesuit priest from Cork who was travelling from Southampton to Cobh (then Queenstown). This invaluable record was only discovered in 1960 and showed the sumptuous fittings in the first class, the slightly less luxurious second class but even the third class was quite presentable. The menus likewise reflected the class distinctions but considering the spartan fare and accommodation (dormitories in steerage) offered to emigrants to America in the 19th Century this must have been considered the height of luxury.
Many artefacts have been recovered from the wreckage, some sold for astronomical sums and others exhibited but this looting was stopped in 2001 by international legislation for the protection of wrecks.
Finishing on a lighter note, Howard recounted that Captain Mark Smith of the Titanic came from Hanley (part of Stoke on Trent) and the local paper, the Sentinel, allegedly published an item that said a local man had been killed in a boating accident. This raised a laugh but sounded like an ‘urban myth’.
However well we think we know the Titanic story I’m sure we all learnt something new from Howard’s talk which was much appreciated by members.
*Note: The timeline following completion is astonishing by today’s rigorous testing and crew training and familiarisation procedures:-
31.03.1912 Completion of fitting out
02.04.1912 Sea trials and signing off as seaworthy by Board of Trade surveyor. Left Belfast for Southampton
03.04.1912 Arrived Southampton around midnight
10.04.1912 Departed on maiden voyage to Cherbourg, Cobh (Ireland) and New York as scheduled, having embarked rest of crew and passengers
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 29.01.2026
Our speaker on 29th January was Colin Davis who stepped in at short notice as the advertised speaker, David Terry, had sadly died. His subject was The Secret History of Words, where they come from and the hidden baggage they carry. “Words, words, words” was a quotation from Hamlet.
Francis Bacon was the recognised father of etymology. The question “Who do you think you are?” is ancestral, where a person lived and their occupation. Some examples quoted are Hooker, a butcher; Fuller, someone involved in cloth production; Turner; a craftsman using a lathe; Pope, someone who appeared in a mystery play and might have played the Pope. Some names were derived from a person – Birdseye Foods from the American inventor of frozen foods, Clarence Birdseye. Gerrymandering is derived from the American Eldridge Gerry who manipulated boundaries to favour his party in the election and the result was the area so created was likened to the shape of a salamander. The word boycott commemorates the name of a strict land agent in Ireland who provoked a non-violent policy of non-cooperation by the workers. The cardigan was named after the first person to wear it, the Earl of Cardigan. Bloomers were named after the American advocate of the garment, Amelia Bloomer. The inveterate gambler, the Earl of Sandwich, did not want his pastime to be interrupted so he sent for meat between slices of bread which became known as the popular snack, the sandwich.
The names of places in the USA derive from the origin of the immigrants who settled there, in the east largely English, in the west Spanish, also French, etc. Denim derives from Nîmes in France but the name jeans comes from Genoa, Italy.
Strangers are those who are not like us. Welsh means foreign or someone who fails to repay a debt, i.e. who welshes on a promise. The Greeks called other nations barbaros or barbarians, because they did not speak Greek and were not like them. Dumb comes from the German word Dumm, meaning stupid. Uncouth used to mean someone who was not known. Words reflect people. In English, goodbye is final whereas au revoir and auf wiedersehen mean another meeting is left open. Syphilis was known in England as the French pox but in France as the English disease. To absent oneself without permission is known as French leave. Egregious is a word whose meaning has changed from remarkably good (standing out from the crowd) to seriously bad.
Examples of the origin of words included drunk, which has Germanic roots, whereas sober has Latin roots. Heresy now has the general meaning of someone who rejects common opinion or established religious beliefs and is derived from the Greek word for choice. The word fornicate derives from the Latin word for arch, fornes. Roman brothels were hidden from sight underground in cellars reached through arches.
Latin for left and right is sinister and dextra. By derivation left-handed people are gauche or awkward whereas right-handed people are dextrous. St Matthew’s parable stated that at the day of judgment people would be divided as the shepherd separates the sheep and the goats. Much ‘wokery’ is unconscious - white is good, black is negative..
The origin of English words is derived from numerous other languages and we adopt foreign words into our language whereas the French try to keep foreign words out or at least Gallicise them.
To conclude, Colin posed four words taken from the TV programme Call my Bluff with suggested several alternative meanings and asked everybody to guess the right one. Nobody got them all but James Love got three and as that was the best answer he won a packet of Smarties.
The last item of Colin’s presentation was that questions should be asked before he absquatulated. (Look it up! – I did).
This was a fascinating talk enjoyed by 40 members – a Club record.
Alan Smith
PROBUS TALK 22.01.2026
Our speaker on 22nd January was Rob Brown with a selection of toys from his collection to demonstrate ‘Toys of our Youth’. He may have underestimated our age profile as, in my case and that of many other members, they were more the toys of our grandchildren, but they were still very familiar!
The type of toys changed considerably by the 1960s, becoming futuristic and featuring spaceships and space travel. The more general spread of television made toys representing the characters very popular. A large number of the characters and their spacecraft were on display, made by a variety of manufacturers. The models represented characters from the following shows.
Rob concentrated on the British television producer Gerry Anderson who produced many well-known programmes over a long period. In 1964 ‘Stingray’ appeared, with British actors playing American characters, which helped to boost sales in America. One of the most popular series was ‘Thunderbirds, International Rescue’, introduced in the mid-1960s, which had a connection to Bond films. Parker the chauffeur and Lady Penelope featured, the latter having a cigarette holder and a collection of different outfits. Her car, a pink Rolls Royce, sported the registration FAB 1. [Nigel revealed he had a model of this vehicle in his garage.]
‘Action Man (GI Joe)’ also appeared in the 1960s. ‘Captain Scarlet’ in 1967 included the first black character. It also featured the Angel Interceptor aircraft flown by one of the four white angels. ‘Joe 90’ appeared in 1968, but was not so popular. In 1969 ‘The Secret Service’ was based on a Stanley Unwin puppet with live action but episodes were limited as it was deemed to be unsellable in America. It was followed by ‘UFO’ in 1970.
The last series by Anderson, ‘The Terrahawks’, was produced in 1983 and used Latex faces controlled electronically, known as Supermacronation. Kate Kestrel was the singer.
In 1991there was a rerun of ‘Thunderbirds’ which included Tracy Island. On Blue Peter, how to make a model of it was demonstrated as manufacturers could not keep pace with the demands for it. The last TV show was ‘Space Precinct’ which was produced in 1994 but was not a success in America. In 2005 a new version of ‘Captain Scarlet’ was made using Supermacronation.
Gerry Anderson was assisted by his wife Sylvia but they went through an acrimonious divorce in 1981 He died in 2012.
This was an unusual presentation which brought back many memories and our thanks go to Rob for bringing all these exhibits with their original boxes, which were good selling points, as well as accessories and records of songs on the shows.
Alan Smith
Probus Talk 15.01.2026
Title: Mohandas Gandhi Part 2 Presenter: Galen Bartholemew
This was the second part of the presentation covering Gandi’s life from 1915 to his assassination in 1948. Galen started with a brief reprise of Gandi’s earlier life.
In 1915 Gandhi was relatively unknown in India and spent time getting to know the country and its people by traveling by train and tram across the country.
It was at this time that Gandi adopted a simple form of Indian dress rather than more western apparel. He was influenced by his mentor the political leader and social reformer Professor Gokhale, who was termed the “Diamond of India”.
1916 saw problems in Bihar province India’s poorest state, due to the market for natural indigo being severely affected by new synthetic versions.
In December 1916 the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League agreed to work together to ensure that both Hindu and Muslim religions could co-exist.
Unrest in the Punjab in 1919 culminated in the Amritsar Massacre in which many Indians were killed. The British used the event as a lesson to the natives. Gandhi could not support this British action, placing Indians against fellow Indians and he subsequently joined the Congress Party. In 1922 Gandi was placed on trial for sedition being sentenced to 6 years in prison for exciting disaffection towards the British government.
Gandi’s health was declining following appendicitis and the stress of overwork and high blood pressure. In 1924 he used this quieter period for reflection; maintaining one day each week as totally silent. At this time the three Lawyers - Jinnah, Patel, Nehru come to the fore in India’s march towards independence. Jinnah became the founder of Pakistan and Nehru India’s first Prime Minister. Gandi’s influence was vital and at this time he was most instrumental in furthering a peaceful transition to independence.
1930 saw the 24-day Salt March a non-violent civil disobedience to colonial rule. Salt was very important the tax representing a significant part of the Raj’s revenue. Over 60,000 Indians were jailed and the British did not make any concessions. The disobedience spread to millions across India. Gandi was jailed only being released in 1931
India represented 50% of Britain’s cotton exports and the changing market in India towards locally designed and produced clothing resulted in many mills in Lancashire closing. A result for which Gandi apologised directly to those involved on a subsequent visit to England.
The split between Hindu and Muslim citizens was growing following failure to meet agreement at round table conferences in London. Gandi was involved in the negotiations with the British Viceroy for India and also had discussions with the King and Prime Minister.
The independence of India and any potential religious partition was being influenced in many quarters. A close friend of Gandi, Rev. C F Andrew was influential being highly regarded by the population and in contact with senior UK politicians and the King.
Still no agreement could be reached and the British government arrested members of the Congress party including Gandi, subsequently releasing him from prison when he caught malaria fearing he might die in custody.
The Muslim league considered partition in north India but did not appreciate the dire consequences. Other suggestions were made to bring independence, several
offers of Dominion status for India were offered but rejected.
Gandhi spoke to the people, masses attending his rallies and kissing his feet.
1946 saw serious rioting in Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus, Gandi attempted to quell the uprisings touring around many villages with his message of peaceful protest, but the rioting had sowed the seeds of eventual religious partition.
India achieved Independence on 15th August 1947; the date being brought forward by Viceroy Mountbatten due to rioting.
Gandhi was assassinated on 30th January 1948 by a Hindu nationalist who objected to Gandhi’s non-violence stance and his promotion of Hindu-Muslim unity
A pivotal moment in Indian history.
Galen was thanked for his two presentations covering a very detailed subject with clarity and answering the many questions from members.
Bob Turner
PROBUS TALK 08.01.2026
Our speaker on 8th January was Galen Bartholomew who made a welcome return visit and had an audience of 39 which equalled the Club’s record. His subject was Mohandas K. Gandhi who was internationally famous but perhaps the details of his life were less well-known. Always known as Mahatma (the enlightened one), a title he hated, Churchill called him a seditious Middle Temple lawyer.
Born in 1869 he died in 1948. His life was divided between India, London and South Africa. His philosophy started with his experiments with truth in order to obtain Moksha, the state of bliss or enlightenment in Hinduism. His goals were to find a spiritual inner truth, regardless of religion. The caste system in India had four categories, below which were the Untouchables. Gandhi believed all men were brothers and to demonstrate this he lived for a time with the Untouchables. He was supporter of Indian independence but preached the doctrine of Satyagraha, non-violent resistance, using civil disobedience, non-cooperation, strikes and boycotts to achieve change. He was a practical idealist who undertook nursing. In pursuance of his ideals he practised vegetarianism. His philosophy was that truth is the substance of morality.
Galen then outlined the history of British involvement in India. It started in 1600 when Elizabeth I granted a charter to the East India Co. to trade there. The company grew into a massive undertaking, making agreements with various princely states and running its own army, completely outside the control of the British government. This all came to an end after the Indian Mutiny, 1857-9, which led to 2392 British deaths and that of at least 100,000 Indians. In 1858 the Congress Party of India was founded, India’s first political party, which initiated the movement for independence which was taken up by Gandhi and Nehru. It happened in 1947 when the country was partitioned which will be covered in Part 2 of the talk next week. At this time there were 600-700 states within India ruled by princes which were not part of British India, many of which had alliances with Britain.
Gandhi was a very shy youth. He was a great walker and fluent in several Indian languages. He supported authority and as a husband he made the decisions at home. His father ran a princely state and the family home was host to people of many religions. Although he was a vegetarian he adopted meat-eating for a year because he noticed all the English were much taller than Indians! His elder brother undertook legal work and Mohandas decided to move to London to train as a barrister, resolving to abstain from wine, women and meat, although he took elocution, violin and dancing lessons and, in contrast to later life, he adopted formal Western dress. He spent three years at Inner Temple, 1888-1891(not Middle Temple as stated by Churchill). He became Secretary of the Vegetarian Society but was too shy to read his reports. He visited the Paris Exposition in 1889. He was called to the Bar in 1891 and practised in the High Court until 1893 when he obtained a one year contract in South Africa, after failing to succeed with his legal practice in India because he was unable to cross-examine witnesses. He stayed in South Africa until 1914 and made friends with Raychandbai, a Jain philosopher who, with Ruskin and Carlyle, made him realise his vocation in life. It was “the forging” of Gandhi. His time in South Africa changed his life and when he returned to India permanently, it changed that country as well.
Gandhi’s experience of racial prejudice in South Africa and his way of dealing with it changed the world in terms of civil rights and freedom. While travelling to Pretoria he travelled first class on the train which was restricted to white people. He was thrown off together with his luggage, an incident which was featured in Richard Attenborough’s award-winning film ‘Gandhi’ of 1982. Part of the journey was by coach when he was beaten up by whites when he refused to sit on the floor. On another occasion he was accepted in a hotel only if he ate in his room. Indians in the country were resented by whites as they were well off. They were mostly Tamils and were indentured and subject to a charge. In 1896 a Natal Indian Congress was formed to improve the Indians’ lot but adhering to the principles of non-violence and human dignity. Gandhi setup a legal business and took up the case of a beaten up indentured labourer.
Returning to India he travelled widely and concluded that British rule was largely beneficial to India. Back in South Africa he published a pamphlet about Indian conditions and was nearly lynched. He founded a weekly newspaper which lasted until the 1960s. In 1897 Indians had to be registered. In 1899 the Boer war started and Gandhi formed an Indian ambulance corps of 1100 men. Back in India he formed a legal practice in Bombay. On returning to South Africa with his family, he met the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain who was visiting to promote conciliation after the Boer War, but he was not receptive to Gandhi’s efforts to improve Indian conditions nor to make it easier for Indians to move from Natal to Transvaal. Despite this, in1906 Gandhi again organised an ambulance corps, this time to serve in the Zulu rebellion
In 1910 Gandhi formed an ashram, a spiritual retreat with communal living comprising about 100 acres, and all the family had to work, taking turns to do all the tasks, including cleaning the latrines. The registration of Indians required the taking of fingerprints and carrying identity cards and, at a meeting in a theatre, it was agreed to ignore the law and hold a non-violent protest. Smuts promised to repeal the legislation but in fact implemented it. Gandhi obtained a cauldron and burnt about 2000 certificates which made good PR. He was imprisoned for two months (he spent 10% of his life in prison.) In 1906 the situation became tense and Gandhi met Smuts again about repealing the legislation, but he didn’t. In addition another law was introduced that all marriages had to be according to Christian rites. In Johannesburg many Indians were whipped and some were shot. 50,000 went on strike and thousands were imprisoned. The Viceroy of India complained to the South African government about the situation and Smuts agreed to repeal the legislation. Gandhi then left for India prompting Smuts to say in 1914 “a saint has left our shores, I hope never to return”.
Gandhi then adopted Indian dress permanently. His four sons all suffered imprisonment for a time but supported his cause, as did his long-suffering wife.
Galen will continue with Part 2 of his talk on 15th January.
Alan Smith
