Probus Club of Chippenham
Introduction
The Probus Club is for retired or semi-retired professional and business men in Chippenham or the locality. It was formed in 1981 and is one of over 1500 such clubs in the United Kingdom.
Our programme includes talks both by visiting speakers and by our own members, and each meeting includes a break for refreshments which provides a chance for us to catch up with our friends.
We also enjoy a pre-Christmas lunch, an Annual Dinner in April and a Garden Party in July.
Our partners are specifically invited to join us at a number of meetings but are also welcome at any other meeting which they feel may be of interest to them.
The club meets at 2:15pm on the first and third Wednesday of each month, except during August, at Kington Langley Village Hall.
New Members are always welcome and you are invited to come to any of our meetings to see if you would be interested in joining.
More details about the club can be found on its web site http://www.chippenhamprobus.org.uk/
Programme of Meetings
Our programme of meetings runs from September to July.
The remaining programme 2017/18
| 4-Apr-18 | Unusual Antique Items (Wives and partners) | Alan Truscott |
| 18-Apr-18 | Remains of a Revolution | Geoff Hobbs |
| 2-May-18 | The Civil War in Wiltshire | Chris Scott |
| 6-Jun-18 | Life in the Police | Russell Evans |
| 20-Jun-18 | Milk and Cheese | Kevan Leach |
| 4-Jul-18 | Air Traffic Control : A Woman in a Man’s World | Lynn Hildich |
Reports on earlier meetings can be found on the Club web site.
The proposed programme for 2018/19
| 5_Sep-18 | Joseph Priestley in Calne | Norman Beale |
| 19-Sep-18 | Reminiscences of a Concorde Test Pilot | Alan Smith |
| 3_ Oct-18 | My Journey to the Weakest Link (Wives and Partners Invited) | Linda Dowsett |
| 17_ Oct-18 | The London Story (Part 2) : From the Normans to the Great Fire | Mike Stone |
| 7_Nov-18 | The Arctic and the Weather | David Head |
| 21_ Nov-18 | The Bloodhound Project : World Land Speed Car (Wives and Partners Invited) | Martin Evans |
| 5_Dec-18 | Burma – The Chindits | Bjorn Watson |
| 19_Dec-18 | Christmas Lunch with wives and partners | |
| 2_Jan-19 | Tuna Fishing in Oman (Wives and partners invited) | Kevan Leach |
| 16-Jan-19 | My Job as an MOD Dog Handler | Dave Williams |
| 6_Feb-19 | Annual General Meeting | |
| 20_Feb-19 | The Royal Navy : Role and Organisation (Wives and Partners Invited) | Royal Navy Presentation Team |
| 6_ Mar-19 | The Discomforts of Bath | Dickon Povey |
| 20_Mar-19 | From Russia With Love | Phil Redyoff |
| 3-Apr-19 | A Walk Along the Thames Path : Runnymede to Hampton Court (Wives and Partners Invited) | Bill King |
| 10_Apr-19 | Annual Dinner with wives and partners | |
| 17_Apr-19 | The First 500 Years of Trinity House | Ian Gibb |
| 1_May-19 | Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow (Wives and Partners Invited) | David Reed |
| 15_May-19 | Hillforts to Pillboxes in Wiltshire : Episodes from Wiltshire’s Military Past | Nick Baxter |
| 5_Jun-19 | A Discussion on Alternative Energy | John Clark |
| 19_Jun-19 | Arctic Convoys | David Head |
| 3_July-19 | Shakespeare’s Stage (Wives and Partners Invited) | Chris Scott |
| 17_Jul-19 | Garden Party with wives and partners |
Reports on recent meetings
The speaker at the Probus Club meeting on 21st March was Alan Lank from the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust.
Alan emphasised that the official name of the canal was not the Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal but the Wilts and Berks Canal as this was the name in the Act of Parliament creating it.
The canal is 70 miles long from Semington to Abingdon and Alan told us about the history of the canal from its completion in 1810 up to its abandonment in 1914. This was due in part to loss of trade to the Railways with the collapse of the Stanley Aqueduct in 1901 hastening its demise. It was closed in 1914 with the passing of the Act of Abandonment. The canal then fell into disrepair with some parts especially in Melksham and Swindon being built over.
In the 1970’s the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust was formed with the long term objective of restoring the canal to create a sustainable and environmentally friendly resource for people and wildlife. The total estimated cost of the renovation was half a billion pounds.
Alan took us through various sections of the canal and the work necessary to renovate it including the need to divert its path through or around Melksham and Swindon. We were also informed that the Trust had recently acquired the Peterborough Arms pub at Dauntsey as the Trust HQ. It also hoped to include a small museum and reopen it as a pub.
Alan completed his talk by showing us photographs of much of the work on the stretches between Melksham and Chippenham including the Pewsham locks and some of the new canal on the edge of Swindon.
The Trust is always looking for volunteers to assist in its work and details can be found on the Trust’s web site www.wbct.org.uk
Our president thanked Alan for a most informative and interesting talk demonstrating the scale of the work to bring the canal back into use.