The Probus Club of Barnes, Sheen and Mortlake meets monthly for lunch, a talk and fellowship at The Roehampton Club, Roehampton Lane, London, SW15 5LX from 12.30pm onwards until 3pm on the first Wednesday of each Month.
Talks are given by members or invited guests and are on subjects of general interest.
In June and December partners are invited to the Ladies Lunch.
Visits to places of interest may be organised from time to time.
History
Founded in 1972, the club has held over 610 lunches in its 50 years with the aim of “offering those no longer in full time employment the continued comradeship and social contact of their group.”
Who can join?
You are welcome to become a member of the Probus Club if you are a man who is retired or semi-retired from business or a profession and think that the club is for you. You will be invited to a lunch as a guest to see the club for yourself. If you then decide to seek membership, you will be asked to complete a form, with a proposer and seconder, and your name is put before the Committee for consideration.
At present we have 59 members, and new members are joining monthly, at least half of the members come every time to lunch.
For more information please contact the club secretary:-
David Wells 020 8876 6790
Transport Links are good to the venue.
Buses passing nearby the Roehampton Club are 33, from Hammersmith Bridge to Fulwell , 265, from Putney Bridge Station to New Malden, 337, from Wandsworth to Richmond, 419 from Richmond to Roehampton and 493, from Tooting to Bus station, Richmond.
Barnes Station is also within a 5 minute walk. The closure of Hammersmith Bridge has seen the 72 no longer running to Roehampton.
Officers & Committee 2024
Chairman: Ian Lamb
Club Secretary: David Wells
House Secretary: Shaun Lamplough
Hon. Treasurer: Nigel Sherwin
Club Visitor: John Hockley
Past Chair Chris Lewis
Hon Auditor: Gordon Williamson.
The current membership subscription is £40 per year, and the lunch costs £37.00 for a set 2 courses. (Starter and Main or Main and Sweet, Coffee and Mint.). Dietary options available..
A small raffle is also held for 2 prizes to raise funds for a nominated charity. The 2024 charity is Small Steps which offers specialist support for babies and young children who have physical disabilities,
Payment for lunch should be preferably be prepaid by BACs to our account as per email details, or by cheque to the hon. Treasurer.
Programme of Talks for Jan-Dec 2024
1. JANUARY
No meeting. AGM held only by committee with voting before hand via email for members.
No suitable venue available due to Roehampton clubs kitchen refurbishment
Feb 2024 No meeting.
Due to refurbishment of the Roehampton clubs kitchens the next Probus meeting will be in March 2024.
On the 6th March we welcome as our speaker Anita Coppola MBE, the founder and head of Small Steps, the chairman’s chosen charity for 2024. It is an organisation based in Richmond which provides specialist support for babies and young children who have physical disabilities, including supporting their parents and teaching them the skills they need. Anita has been there since 1998 when 3 children were attended sessions: there are now over 70 children on the roll, and others benefit from outreach work. She was awarded the MBE in 2012 for her work.
3rd APRIL 2024
On the 3rd April, we welcome back Chris Blackhurst. He was our speaker in February 2023, Talking about his book “ Too Big To Jail”, concerning the HSBC money laundering scandal. This year, he will be talking about his latest book, “ The World’s Biggest Cash Machine”, his account of the control by the Glazer family of Manchester United F C , and the consequences of the record level of debt they incurred in buying it. They have also incurred record levels of opprobrium from fans: justified or undeserved? Chris will help you decide.
A graduate in law from Trinity College Cambridge, he pursued a long career
in Fleet Street, on the Sunday Times, Sunday Express, the Independent and the Evening Standard (City Editor 2002 to 2011) which culminated in appointment as the Editor of the Independent between 2011 and 2013. He is now a multi media head of business for a group of newspapers and television channels
1st May 2024
Tim Catchpole
Tim is known to us all as a past chairman, and present member, of Probus, and very active chair of MESS. He worked at the GLC from 1975 until its abolition in 1986. By then he had authored a publication offering guidance to London’s riparian boroughs about redevelopment along their waterfronts. Thereafter, he authored a publication about London’s tall buildings, moved into the private sector, and then worked overseas on oil, gas and petrochemical complexes. In 2016, he retired; but a request for assistance from someone in Mortlake concerning the Brewery site brought him back into action, and revived his interest in “The Changing Face of London”, the title of his talk.
5th June 2024 (Ladies Lunch)
Sir Vincent and Lady Cable
In June 2023, we heard from Alan Johnson, retired Labour politician and writer; in December, from Gyles Brandreth, retired Conservative politician and writer, and broadcaster; and in 2024, we achieve a balance of political backgrounds with our summer ladies’ lunch, when Vince, retired Liberal Democrat Party leader, and his wife Rachel Smith, will be our guests, talking about their co-authored book, “Partnership and Politics in a Divided Decade”. They are not only writers but also very active patrons of Arts Richmond.
3rd July 2024
Alastair Grant
Alastair is known to members as one of our own and very active in our community. He will be speaking about his new book, due for publication on 30 April, about the Royal Marines in Russia in 1919. Many members will be aware that he was the third generation to serve in the Royal Marines, and was succeeded by his son as the fourth. No one could have been better qualified to write this book.
AUG 2023 Sorry there is no meeting this month due to low number of members available.
11th September 2024 (NOTE THE DATE!)
Martin Sixsmith
Martin read French and Russian at Oxford, studied at the Sorbonne, and taught slavic studies at Harvard where he was awarded a postgraduate degree for a thesis on Russian Poetry. He joined the BBC in 1980 as a foreign correspondent and worked in Russia, the USA, Brussels and Poland. He left in 1997 and then worked in government and in the private sector. From 2004 onwards, he wrote several books. One of them was The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, in 2009, adapted as a film in 2013, “Philomena”, starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan as Martin. It is a moving story of the true events surrounding the forced separation from their babies of Irish girls who had children out of wedlock, and the slave labour conditions of those girls in laundries run by convents. He is still writing: his latest is about President Putin.
2nd October 2024
Andrew Summers CMG
Andrew is the chairman of the Barnes Music Festival which succeeds each year in attracting well known and less well known musicians to a two week festival packed with events in Barnes venues, and hopefully he will talk about how he manages such a feat. However he also has impressive experience and achievements in the academic and business worlds: chair of governors of Ravensbourne University; previously deputy chair of King’s College London and chair of Westminster Business School; one time managing director of Sharwood’s and of RHM Foods; and currently also Chair of Design Partners. His CMG was for services to international business and design.
6th NOVEMBER 2024
Tba
4th DECEMBER 2024 : LADIES LUNCH
Tba
Brief History
On May 5th 1993 the Club celebrated its 21 st Anniversary with a Ladies’ Lunch at the Roehampton Club. This was attended by the Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hanley MP and the Mayor of Richmond.
The Club celebrated the Millennium Year 2000 on June 7th at the Roehampton Club with a Ladies’ Lunch attended by the Mayor of Richmond.
The 40th Anniversary of the Club’s foundation was marked by a Ladies’ Lunch at the Roehampton Club on 2 May 2012. The Guest of Honour was the Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London, Col. Ewen Cameron.
The 50th year celebration was held in May 2022. with the guest speaker Lord Patten of Barnes relating some of his experiences as the last Governor of Hong Kong.
For more information please contact
David Wells (Secretary)
020 8876 6790
djrwells@btinternet.com