Welcome to the Crediton and District Webpage.
Our club has been in existence since 1977 and keeps a fluctuating membership of around 25 to 30 members.
We meet once a month on a Wednesday at the Red Lion in Shobrooke, a small village close to Crediton. Most meetings are held at lunchtime and usually an invited Speaker will talk about his or her favourite subject.
Crediton is a town of approximately 7000 inhabitants and sits in the middle of Devon some seven miles to the west of Exeter.
The impressive Parish Church was the Cathedral until Exeter grew in size and took over that role. Crediton still has a Bishop, even though the post is Exeter-based.
If you are a Probus member visiting Crediton we would be very pleased to welcome you to one of our meetings.
Please contact myself at the address below should you be interested to know more about our activities and/or come to one of our meetings.
Club contact: Barry Shears
email: barryglge@gmail.com
Meeting report: September 7th, 2022
Crediton Probus Club met at The Red Lion in Shobrooke on Wednesday 7th September.
Twenty members plus three guests attended and proceedings commenced, as usual, when grace was said.
After lunch we all drank a bumper toast to HM The Queen (little knowing that it was to be the last time).
Barry Shears then read a humorous and apt quotation that was well received by all present.
The President reported the result of a survey of members’ views on the future location of meetings of the Club and advised that the Committee would be meeting to discuss the views and suggestions raised during the survey. He said that all members would be given an opportunity to comment on any changes recommended by the Committee.
Birthday greetings were offered to those members who would be celebrating before the forthcoming meeting.
The raffle was drawn and Don Nicholson was declared the winner.
Arthur Arscott introduced Bill Murray as our speaker for a talk that he had entitled “Growing up with Sir Winston Churchill“.
Bill explained that his father was a policeman who had been appointed to ensure the security of Sir Winston Churchill. The appointment started when Bill was a young boy and continued for many years and included the period after Sir Winston’s retirement. We were told the implications that the appointment had on Bill and his family and heard snippets of encounters between Bill and Sir Winston or of visits to Sir Winston’s home in Kent. The fascinating talk was illustrated with many pictures taken by Bill’s father, some of which showed Sir Winston following his passion for painting and which had more recently been used to authenticate the attribution of Sir Winston to certain paintings that had been included in a book about Sir Winston’s paintings.
Bill invited and answered a number of questions arising from his talk.
On behalf of the Club’s members Don Nicholson proposed a vote of thanks to the speaker and the proposal was adopted unanimously.
The meeting was closed following a traditional toast to “ The next time”
The club usually meets on the first Tuesday in the month although currently we meet on a Wednesday. Any one interested in attending the meetings or joining the club is invited to contact the Secretary, Barry Shears, at ‘barryglge@gmail.com‘ “.