President’s Remarks
My year as President is almost at an end – how quickly time flies by. It has been my pleasure and honour to serve in this capacity and I would like to thank you all, especially members of the Committee, for the support I have received. This has made my task much lighter.
It is with great sadness that we heard of Eric Owen passing away, a great shock to many. Eric was well liked. Our thoughts are with Helen and all the family. He was 69 and he had been a Probus member for some two and a half years. His funeral will be held at Harriseahead Methodist Chapel on Thursday 8th June at 1.15pm. and a short committal service will be held afterwards at Carmountside crematorium.
The next meeting, in June, will be our Annual General Meeting when we will require nominations from members so that a new committee can be appointed. I hope to see many people come forward to fill the various vacancies to be announced at this meeting.
I hope you all enjoyed the President’s Evening, the meal and the entertainment, which was provided by Simon Garcia.
Adrian
The speaker for our May Meeting is: Dr. Peter Floyd
His talk is entitled :- New Zealand.
Birthdays in June:-
Adrian Ford, Norman Hankey, Len Harrop, Michael Johnson,
Fredrick Maxfield and David Tipper.
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June Walk, Wednesday 7th.
The June walk is from the Okeover Arms in Mapleton near Ashbourne. The walk goes from Mapleton to the village of Thorpe and then around Thorpe Cloud to the stepping stones at the entrance to Dovedale. We then turn back and follow the River Dove back to Mapleton. The walk is about 6 miles but we could take a short cut at Thorpe if deemed necessary making it about 4.5 miles. Lunch will be at the Okeover Arms.
Please meet at 9:30 on the tiered car parks in Kidsgrove on Wednesday 7th June.
Garry Bell
Social Reports
Spring Holiday Shanklin, Isle of Wight.
Saturday 29th April – Saturday 6th May
The spring holiday to the Isle of Wight was another enjoyable get together, with forty of us leaving Kidsgrove at 9am, arriving at the Ocean View hotel in Shanklin at about 4pm. It was a pleasant coach ride with the smoothest of ferry crossings. We were met by the assistant manager, who always seemed to be on duty, and was most helpful. The hotel, food, staff and coach driver were excellent.
The amenities in the hotel included a swimming pool, snooker room, bowls room, table tennis, a pool table and a separate reading room with board games and jigsaws etcetera and a large television room. The bar and entertainment rooms were large and comfortable with reasonable entertainment provided every night.
The trips out covered every inch of the island with steam train rides, boat trips on The Solent, a theatre show, a ‘Dancing Waters’ show and visits to Ryde, Yarmouth, Godshill, a vineyard and a long visit to Osborne House, the get away from it all, where Victoria and Albert could spend time with their children. On the free days many of us went our own separate ways, some of us going as far afield as Portsmouth on the mainland. The trains and buses were much used as there was always a cold breeze throughout the holiday, which prevented many of us doing our sitting and walking on the seafront. Another problem was that the lift down to the beach was not in use during our stay, which meant there were about 200 steps to get from the hotel down to the promenade and beach and the same to return to the hotel, but we soon found other ways down!
Graham Tunicliff organized a bowls tournament and we had the usual quizzes, Irish bingo and choral renditions (especially the bluebell song, always very popular!). Ken did us all proud – as usual.
This is just a summary of a very pleasant friendship holiday, so ideal for me. I would so like to see other members join us on these get togethers. I am sure they would find the happiness that I find on these holidays.
Frank Timmis
MONTHLY SOCIAL REPORT
The 8 day holiday to Shanklin, Isle of Wight departing on Saturday 29th April was enjoyed by all though the weather might have been warm and sunny like that at Kidsgrove. We have stayed at this Robinsons Hotel before and it lived up to its reputation providing good food, evening entertainment and dancing. The snooker table and indoor bowls proved popular and some even ventured into the swimming pool and jacuzzi. Spare your blushes, the club photographer had no film in his camera! Driver Paul looked after us very well on our tours on the Island and safely returned us all back home to Kidsgrove.
The President’s Evening held at the Manor House Hotel, Alsager on the 26th May proved to be a successful event attended by a total of 68 members and guests. Simon Garcia provided first class entertainment encouraging everyone to sing, smooch or jive and the warm evening ended with many dancing on the terrace, a memorable climax to President Adrian’s year in office.
The proposed week’s holiday to Ilfracombe with Alfa Travel departing Sunday 3rd September 2017 is not viable and has had to be cancelled. Enquiries are being made for a Turkey and Tinsel break in November.
On the 24th June 2017 a coach trip to Liverpool has been arranged at a cost of £12 per person. Names and money will be collected at the meeting on 31st May.
Further outings to Llandudno in July and Southport Flower Show in August are in the planning stage. It is also hoped to arrange a visit to the Arboretum at Alrewas and the City of Lichfield in August or September.
Ken Williamson
New Picture Gallery on Kidsgrove Probus Web Site
New photo’s added.
Have you checked out the new picture gallery on our website that has been created by Mike Nield and Peter Lloyd? The Gallery is accessed from the Members Section, at the bottom of the Navigation List on the web site, for which you will need a password to gain access. You can send images to Mike or Peter for inclusion of Probus outings and events if you wish. As well as the many images from 1996 to the present, there is other useful information for members.
Please note:- Recently some web browser service providers have added caveats to their web sites, where you are required to provide a login password. This is to remind us, (this covers the provider for Health and Safety requirements) that when logging into a website or part of a website requiring a password, there is no encryption of password or data on their network.
The Amateur Philosopher
Even the wise person makes mistakes,
Even the fool is sometimes right.
Newsletter Editor
Chris Brough compiles and publishes the Probus Newsletter.
Articles of interest to members should be sent by Email to Chris at chrisjbrough@talktalk.net or phone 01782 784075 in the first instance. For any inclusion in the next newsletter, articles should be delivered to the editor at least 10 days before the monthly meeting.
Our next Probus meeting is our AGM meeting on
Wednesday 28th June at
Kidsgrove Cricket Club, 9.30 for 10am.