Activities

Meetings Programme 2022-25

The Probus Club of Huntingdon and St Ives

 

Meetings Programme 2024-2025

 

02.04.24    The Huntingdon Witch Trials       Speaker: Stuart Orme
 
07.05.24    Monologues & Meanderings        Speaker: Alex Turner
 
04.06.24    RAF Stories – Fear                      Speaker: Robert Ankerson
 
02.07.24    Tide of Fortune                             Speaker: Tony Kirby

        

Golden Jubilee Luncheon:
06.08.24  
                 Harpist - Felcity Meakins
                 Songs and Stories from the Sixties - Speaker: David Caulfield
 

 

03.09.24    Father & Son – The Life of William Rhodes Moorhouse    Speaker: Roger Leivers

 

        

01.10.24    Member Presentations                 Speakers: Andrew Holmes / Tony Catterick 
 
05.11.24    Tales of a Wimbledon Umpire       Speaker: Alan Gray MBE
 
Christmas Luncheon:
03.12.24   Handwriting Analysis for Fun         Speaker: Joanne Larner
 
07.01.25    No Lunch                        
 
04.02.25    President's Lunch                         Speaker: Tbc
 
04.03.25    AGM                                             No Speaker


 

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Meetings Programme 2023-2024

 

04 04 23 1947 Floods  Speaker: Mike Petty

02 05 23 Lighting the Fuse  Speaker: Lucy Lewis

06 06 23 D-Day and the Normandy Aftermath Speaker: Richard Gibbons

04 07 23 Bee Keeping  Speaker: Roger Wood

01 08 23 Ladies' Summer Lunch - No Speaker

05 09 23 More Tea Vicar  Speaker: Alan Butler

03 10 23 House of Spies  Speaker: Roger Leivers 

07 11 23 Letters from the top of the world – Kilimanjaro 2022 Speaker: Gerry Pye

05 12 23 Life in the Colonies at Empire's End: A Woman’s Role Speaker: Kate Armstrong

02 01 24 No Lunch

06 02 24 President's Lunch  Speaker: TBC

05 03 24 AGM No Speaker

 

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Meetings Programme 2022-2023

 

Date

Speaker

Title
     

1st February 2022

President's Lunch

Sarah Doig

A Sign of the Times

Local History told through East Anglian Village Signs

1st March 2022

No Speaker

Annual General Meeting
5th April 2022 Mike Petty

A Fenland History Saver Shares All

Mike Petty Speaks about his time ‘collecting’ history from the Fens
3rd May 2022 Andrew Jude What goes up must come down, or maybe not 
7th June 2022 John Holmes A History of Public Transport in St. Ives
5th July 2022 Jonathan Crisp What happens to your waste when you throw it away?

2nd August 2022

Ladies Summer Lunch

 No Speaker  
6th September 2022 Nigel Sutton Fraud and Cyber Security
4th October 2022 Richard Gibbons The Russians are Coming!
1st November 2022 Paul Silk  Arthur’s War Story
6th December 2022 Mike Wabe Father Christmas Myths & Mistletoe
3rd January 2023 Speaker To be announced

7th February 2023

President's Lunch

 Speaker To be announced
7th March 2023 No Speaker Annual General Meeting

 

Birmingham - Powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution

 

15th October 2013

 
On a pleasant autumn morning, the recent rains having finally stopped, Probus members and guests boarded a coach outside the Dolphin Hotel in St Ives and headed west – a different direction from outings in recent years – for a rendezvous with our Guide from City & Village Tours in the centre of Birmingham.  Far from being a grim and industrial concrete jungle, the new Birmingham is a much improved city of beautiful squares, greenery and public art.  We began with a short visit to the magnificent, newly opened City Library, followed by morning refreshments in the Malthouse pub on the contrasting old canal quayside and a coach tour of the city centre and renowned jewellery quarter.  After a fish & chip lunch in the Malthouse, we spent the afternoon in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, world famous for its collection of pre-Raphaelite paintings, finally ending the day with refreshments in the Gallery's Edwardian Tearooms before heading for home.
 
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First stop was the new City Library in Centenary Square, designed by architect Francine Houben and opened on 3rd September 2013,
where our party discussed the unusual exterior before viewing the even more remarkable interior design. 
 
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This impressive escalator is the main access from the entrance hall to the first floor gallery.
 
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The first floor gallery.  The £189m library houses a collection of one million books 
and has more than 200 public access computers, theatres, an exhibition gallery and music rooms.
 
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Higher galleries illuminated by a mixture of daylight and artificial light. 
The library's most valuable books are copies of Shakespeare's First Folio and John James Audubon's 'Birds of America'
worth between £6m and £7m each.
 
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The first floor roof terrace.  The library's futuristic exterior of interlacing rings aims to reflect the city's canals and tunnels.
 
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View of Birmingham Centenary Square from the first floor roof terrace.
 
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View towards the circular Hall of Memory First World War memorial, built in 1925 and the old Central Library (far left) built in the 1970s
and once described by Prince Charles as looking like a place where books would be incinerated rather than read.
 
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Contrasting old and new in this canal backwater.
 
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New buildings along the old canal.
 
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The canal quayside outside the Malthouse pub.
 
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The Malthouse Pub where morning refreshments and lunch were served.
 
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Serving God in the Jewellery Quarter.
St Pauls Church set in a timeless Georgian square, with rolling lawns and tree-lined walks, was built under an Act of Parliament of 1772. 
It was designed by Roger Eykyn, a surveyor from Wolverhampton, with Samuel Wyatt, a distinguished local architect, acting as an advisor.
The land was donated by Charles Colmore, a well known local landowner at the time.
 
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Our Probus group inside St Paul's Church.
The large East Window is most unusual, and is Francis Eginton's best and most renowned work. 
It is a copy of Benjamin West’s picture of The Conversion of St Paul, painted on glass.
The original panting is hung in the Dallas Museum of Art although a further copy is in Smith’s College, Massachusetts.
Benjamin West was once court painter of historical subjects to King George III.  He was a founder member of the Royal Academy
and became its President in 1792. 
 
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A plan of Birmingham surveyed by Thomas Hanson in 1778 on display in St Paul's Church.
 
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The Millennium Window in St Paul's Church.
 

This Millennium Window was sponsored by the Birmingham Assay Office.  The design was selected from a competition, the Stevens Competition, run by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Glass Painters for young artists.  The theme for the window was:

- the celebration of the manufacture of jewellery; 

- the contribution of the Assay Office in maintaining standards; 

- the role of Matthew Boulton as an innovative industrialist, a leading citizen of the town and Founder of the Assay Office and the Lunar Society; 

- all within the scriptural theme of Job 28!

The Assay Office and the Church together chose “the Angel’s Crucible” by Rachel Thomas.

The angels are carefully pouring white hot metal from the crucible into the streets of the Jewellery Quarter below.  The heat of the metal is reflected in the bodies of the angels.  The design of the haloes is based on a detail on a silver basket, dated 1778, manufactured by Boulton and Fothergill.  The patterns and trim on the clothing of the angels are based on the details of other items by Boulton.

In the crucible are the hallmarks for gold – the crown, for silver – the lion, and for platinum – the orb, together with for Birmingham – the anchor and the special Assay Office mark for the millennium, the distributed 2000.

At the top, stars shine in the night sky, which, with the moon, reminds us of the Lunar Society, where some of the most distinguished men in the latter part of the 18th century met to discuss the developments and issues of the day.

From Job 28, Rachel selected verse 28 for the words round the rim: “Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

Rachel saw the pouring of the molten metal as a metaphor that reflects the area’s rich industrial history and diversity of skills, and as a cultural melting pot where ideas became reality.  She also saw the crucible as a positive image, as though a portal towards a bright future and a new Millennium.

(Text taken from a display card next to the window.)

 

 

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Birmingham Town Hall, a Grade I listed concert hall and venue for popular assemblies, is famous for its concert pipe organ.
Built in brick from 1832-1834 and faced with Penmon Anglesey Marble, the hall is modelled on the Temple of Castor and Pollux in Rome. 
Some limestone was used in its construction and fossils of plants and animals are visible. 
 
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Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery opposite the Town Hall – the clock tower is known locally as 'Big Brum'.
The Art Gallery is most noted for its extensive collections of paintings ranging from the 14th to the 21st century,
including works by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the largest collection of works by Edward Burne-Jones in the world. 
 
 

Oxford, The Isis & Iffley

 

30th September 2014

 

Our coach set off early on a beautiful autumn morning for the long drive to Oxford.  Coffee was taken on arrival at the famous Kings Arms in the centre, built in 1607, the oldest pub in Oxford.  We then began our guided walk through the courtyard of the nearby Bodleian Library, past the Sheldonian Theatre and into Radcliffe Square.  Our tour took us along New College Lane under the Bridge of Sighs, past Edmund Halley's house and into the Front Quadrangle of New College, founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England.  We walked through the Cloisters, completed in 1400 and looked in the Chapel before continuing through the Garden Quadrangle where buildings were added in the 15th, 17th and 18th centuries; thence through the 18th century wrought-iron screen and into the Gardens, said to boast the longest herbaceous border in the country! 

After returning for an excellent lunch at the Kings Arms, we drove down to Folly Bridge on the river and took a cruise past the University boat houses to Iffley Lock and the pretty village of Iffley.  A short walk up Rose Hill took us to Iffley Church, one of the most beautiful in England and a fine example of Romanesque architecture, often known as late Norman, with spectacular carvings and beautiful stained glass windows, ranging from 15th century through to 1995 with an even more recent addition in 2012.  Our boat returned after an hour to take us back to Folly Bridge for refreshments at the Head of the River pub, before starting the journey back to St Ives after a memorable day out. 

(Click on any image to enlarge in a new window)

 

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Our Probus group arriving at the Bodleian Library.

 

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City and Village Tour Guide, Marian, with our group outside the Sheldonian Theatre.

 

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Radcliffe Square and circular Radcliffe Camera (part of the Bodleian Library) which was built from 1737-48 

with a legacy left to the University by John Radcliffe.

 

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The Bridge of Sighs at the entrance to New College Lane.

 

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Edmund Halley's house in New College Lane from where he observed the comet in 1705

and first calculated its orbital periodicity.

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'Dreaming spires' and autumn colours along Queens Lane seen from New College Lane.

 

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Our Probus group gathering in the Front Quadrangle at New College.

 

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New College Cloisters dating from 1400, intended as an area of peace and quiet meditation.  

The nineteenth-century evergreen oak (Ilex)  recently featured in a scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. 

 

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The Cloisters Walks at New College with numerous memorial tablets on the walls and graves beneath the flagstones.

 

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Detail of the Garden Quadrangle buildings and Muniment Tower sundial. 

 

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New College Gardens looking towards the old City Wall, dating from the 12th century, said to have the longest herbaceous border in the Country.

 

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Passing Oxford University boat houses on the river heading to Iffley Lock.

 

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Approaching Iffley Lock.

 

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Iffley Lock.

 

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Our group gathering outside Iffley Church.

 

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The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Iffley, Oxford.

 

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Detail of the great West Doorway in High Romanesque style.

 

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The Nativity Window installed in 1995 designed by John Piper with Stained Glass by David Wasley.

 

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View along the Nave towards the Choir and Chancel.

 

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Returning from Iffley to Oxford.

 

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Refreshments were taken at the 'Head of the River' before leaving for home.

 

 

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Meetings Programme 2015-2016

 

Synopses of Talks

 

Capt John Daniels

7th April 2015

Dynamic positioning of vessels.

Using the latest satellite technology, the precise position of ships and platforms can be achieved.

Dr Bill Block

5th May 2015

 

 

Bother with bees.

Insect pollination contributes hugely to British agriculture and honey bees play an important role in it. Beekeeping has changed dramatically over recent decades with pests and diseases increasing in importance together with changes in agricultural practice. After an introduction to modern beekeeping, I will discuss how these challenges are being met.

David Embling

2nd June 2015

Hornby Dublo trains.

A history of this iconic brand.

Dr Pat Doddy

7th July 2015

 

 

Huntingdonshire Wildlife.

This talk will highlight some of the important areas for wildlife in Huntingdonshire. It will include sites with statutory designations, especially those associated with the River Great Ouse. It will describe how their nature conservation value has changed over the years in response to human intervention.

Richard Todd

4th August 2015

Anglesey Abbey through the seasons.

Behind the scenes at this important local attraction.

James Blackwood

1st September 2015

 

Pathfinder Squadron.

Precise detail about two important missions, Berlin and Peenemunde.

Mission notes and maps will be displayed.

Don Hill

6th October 2015

 

 

Thomas Clarkson – another force against slavery.

Thomas Clarkson was born on 28 March 1760 in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. He was the son of a clergyman who also taught at the local grammar school. In 1779, Clarkson went to Cambridge University where he won a Latin essay competition on the subject of whether it was lawful to make slaves of others against their will.

Bryan Basketter

3rd November 2015

Further travellers’ tales.

Islands, New Zealand to Iceland via many locations in between

Dr Evelyn Lord

1st December 2015

 

 

 

Town gown and loose women.

This talk illustrates the tension between town and gown in nineteenth-century Cambridge through the lives of women, either arrested by the university proctors and imprisoned, or those who entered the Female Refuge. The biographies of 750 women have been traced, and many of these are used as examples. Eventually, the university's privilege of being able to arrest women in the street, whether or not they were soliciting, came to an end after a series of wrongful arrests and an Act of Parliament.

Sarah Wilson

5th January 2016

 

 

 

Flag Fen.

....and so the story goes, in 1982 Dr Francis Pryor stumbled across part of a unique ancient monument on the edge of the fens. In fact the story of the Flag Fen basin started thousands of years before. Hear about the amazing discoveries on site and their national importance. Recent excavations have yielded a wealth of information that will dictate future development of Flag Fen Archaeology Park.
 

 

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