Tenterden Probus Club

Lindsay Groves visited Probus on Thursday 3rd May to show us one of his American police cars and tell us about his business.

After a look round the car, we all went inside and listened to some of Lindsay's experiences of driving an American police car in the UK.

Click here to go to the Precinct 13 website.

Everyone had a good time and a delightful meal.

Simon Charlesworth

"The Lavender Collection"

How fortunate we were to be joined by Simon at our meeting and to listen to him as we shared his great knowledge of lavenders. The lavender collection at Downderry Nursery originally began in his semi-detached house in 1991 and later moved to his present walled garden . Over the years the nursery has bagged some 30 RHS gongs (just over half being golds).

He gave an overview of the geographic background to lavenders (very much orientated to the Mediterranean but spilling over into other areas and subsequently introduced into our country). Many of us have travelled in the south of France and are familiar with the "garrigue"---ideal soil and growing conditions for lavenders.

The three main types were illustrated by Simon, who donned interesting hats to underline the points he was making. His nursery contains the Scientific National Plant Collection of Lavenders and it was no surprise that he soon moved the talk towards more scientific issues including the development of cultivars, hybrids and later flowering cultivars.

From the gardener's point of view, helpful, practical hints were much appreciated covering soil types, positioning of plants, planting, watering (& overwatering!) pruning and so on.

An absorbing time was had by all - and we thank Simon for his ready humour and his ever practical approach throughout his presentation.

Barbara Halstead

"Learning Differently - Dyslexia Unpacked"

Barbara gave an absorbing talk about the nature of dyslexia and explained how it impacted on the individual.

Using a range of slides, Barbara managed to convey what dyslexia means to the individual and how difficult it makes life for students in a main stream school.

Barbara demonstrated that there were a number of teaching methods, strategies and techniques that could be deployed to improve the learning of people with dyslexia.

Barbara stressed that dyslexia is not related to intelligence. There are many different ways to learn and the key to success is not how intelligent you are, but how you are intelligent.

Probus on Parade

The members of Tenterden Probus posed for a team photo for the first time.

Lt. Col. Mike Martin

"To Australia with Captain Cook and then the Convicts"

Lt. Col. Mike Martin gave a fascinating talk abouthe life and exploits of Captain James Cook, who progressed from being the master of a collier working the seacoal route from Tyneside to London, to becoming the Royal Navy's most well known explorer and cartographer.

Following Cook's discovery of Australia, Lt. Col. Martin explained how the new colony came to be settled by the British, initially by convicts ranging in age from eight to eighty.

The Development of North Sea Oil and Gas

Probus member and oil industry economic consultant Greg Parkin fascinated his audience with an account of the processes used to identify and extract oil and gas reserves from the North Sea.

Greg outlined the development in the North Sea from the first discovery of oil by Phillips in 1969. Since then, the North Sea has produced 40 billion barrels of oil and gas from 390 different fields.

He described the formidable problems created by the weather, with 90 foot waves and 130 mph winds. The audience were absorbed by Greg's talk and continued with questions until the President called a halt so that lunch could be served.

Two New Members

President Geoff Croxford presented Probus insignia to new members Tony Buttler and Philip Shaw at the beginning of the meeting.

Botolph in Kent

Local author and historian Dennis Pepper gave a fascinating talk on St Botolph.

He described the life and times of the young man who later became a local saint. Several churches in London and Kent are named after St Botolph as is a public house on the Romney Marsh at Botolph's Bridge.

Following Dennis's talk, the club enjoyed a delightful Christmas lunch, the first of the festive season.

Capital Punishment

John Mills was our guest speaker at the club meeting on the 1st of September.

John spoke about his experiences in the prison service. He invited the club to consider whether the reintroduction of capital punishment would be a positive step forward in preventing crime.

A lively debate ensued, and the club appeared to be equally divided on the subject.

John can be contacted by e-mail at: johncfmills@tiscali.co.uk

On August 4th Tenterden Probus club were pleased to welcome a new member, Ron Batterbee.

President Geoff Croxford presented Ron with his badge and welcomed him to the club.

Following Ron's induction, we were entertained to a slide show and talk by Barbara Meyer of the Big Cat Foundation.

Barbara described how she made a career shift from banking to photography three years ago. She now devotes herself to photographing big cats, and working to protect them in their natural environment.

Welcome to new members

On June 30th President Geoff Croxford welcomed two new members to the club.

Ros Debling and Gail Pain receive their badges, from Geoff.

Guiding Light - The Romance of the Lighthouse.

Well known local naval historian Fred Walker gave a fascinating talk about the development of lighthouses and the development of a coherent maritime safety scheme to protect shipping in Britain's coastal waters.

Fred described the hazardous lighthouses of earlier times, wooden towers with lighted braziers burning glowing coals at night and smoking by day.

With numerous anecdotes and an absorbing slide show, Fred held our attention for an hour, and took many questions afterwards.

Annual Dinner

On June 17th sixty members and guests of Tenterden Probus Club met at Chart Hills Golf Club for their annual dinner.

If you would like more information about Tenterden Probus,
contact us by e-mail: tenterden.probus@gmail.com.