The Didsbury Probus Club invites you to our next scheduled Speaker Meeting on Thursday 15th October 2026.  
 
Venue: Didsbury Baptist Church on the corner of School Lane and Beaver Road opposite Didsbury Metrolink, M20 6SX.

Time:  We will meet at 10:30 am  for tea/coffee and biscuits with the talk starting at 11.00am.
 
Talk Title: “So You Would Like to Become an Aircraft Salesman” 
The talk is about his personal journey in Aircraft Sales, with some interesting anecdotes, also the rise and fall of the British Aircraft Industry.  He spent 30 years in sales at British Aerospace, now BAE Systems, flew well over a thousand times visited 72 countries and met some very interesting people.
Speaker:  John Schofield
Visitors are very welcome.  Donations from visitors, to help with our running costs and provision of refreshments, will be very welcome.
Future talks
5th Nov 2026 – Rare Earth Magnets: small objects that help power the modern world. – Ernie Hill
This talk will show how these little magnets became so fundamental to modern life. It will look at their use in a wide range of areas from mobile phones to electric cars and wind turbines. It will also consider the dominance of China in the production of these magnets as well as possible consequences of this dominance.

19th Nov 2026 – Alcatraz -Carl Bailey.
Alcatraz – a name you have all heard of, some of you may have been to visit or even seen the film “Escape from Alcatraz” ( a true story).  But what was the prison like? Come and find out, Carl, who was an HM Prison Governor, will give his version of life inside this infamous, inhospitable place of incarceration.

3rd Dec 2026 –Family Feud –  The Wentworth Estate and the 2nd Earl of Stafford – Judy Popley
The initial mega row was over the inheritance from the childless 2nd Earl of Stafford in 1659, and in particular the Wentworth Woodhouse family seat, set in the rich coal field of South Yorkshire.  For the next few generations the two sides sides of the family competed for Social Status and Political Power, one result of this was the creation of two magnificent palatial mansions and gardens of Wentworth Woodhouse and Wentworth Castle.

7th Jan 2027 – The story of Lord Simon of Wythenshawe  – Diana Leitch
Ernest Emil Darwin Simon (1879-1960), born in Didsbury to Henry Simon, was a pioneering industrialist. Ernest and his wife Shena were two of Britain’s greatest social reformers, they also purchased Wythenshawe Hall and the surrounding area in 1926 and then gave it to Manchester Corporation to develop a spacious  garden city and a large open parkland. He became 1st Baron of Wythenshawe in 1947.

21st Jan 2027 – Acceptable Energy – Peter Webb
Peter will be looking at the many aspects of green and renewable energy, but focussing on geothermal and very deep sources of heat energy available.

Secretary Mary Hill  didsbury.probus@gmail.com