Month: June 2026

Another good month for support of our activities by the local media. This is mainly concerned with the 46^th AGM and the appointment of Paul Klinger as president.

Some magazines carried earlier reports which is due to a combination of calendar variances in their final copy dates  being before our meetings, others not being monthly publications and this month the Kempshott Kourier was so late that a decision was reached not to have a July edition.  

Thursday 18 June was a self drive trip to the Bovington Tank Museum, just west of Wareham in Dorset. Organised by Chris Perkins MVO, in his usual professional manner, this was a splendid visit augmented by the use of a guide for our tour.

This expansive modern facility has examples of tanks and other armoured vehicles from the introduction of the first tank in 1916, which changed warfare from mounted to mechanical, through to the latest Challenger 3 tank currently being developed by Nato. The museum claims to house the only German Tiger tank in working order.

Founded in 1979 the Probus Club of Basingstoke has elected a new president and committee at its 46^th AGM on 9th June 2026.

As the Probus name suggests its membership is made up of retired professional and businessmen who enjoy meeting regularly for lunch where they have a range of interesting speakers as well as a social monthly pub lunch accompanied by their wives or lady friends. Mixed specialist lunches are taken several times each year and organised outings are arranged to interesting venues. The next, later in June, will be to the Bovington Tank Museum.

The new president is Sherfield on Loddon resident, Paul Klinger, a retired solicitor, while the other officers are a mix of working experiences. In fact, the glue holding the club together is the spread of members working across the spectrum of all the local commercial and industrial employers as well as medical, nuclear, police and military services.

An excellent month for support from our local magazines and from the Basingstoke Gazette.

Nine publications ran with the trip on the Basingstoke Canal, including that rarity. the Loddon Valley Link, while the ever late Kempshott Kourier ran with our previous report about Black Broadcasting.

It was good to see that the Chineham People and Hook Focus carried our report. There was no report from the CommunityAd stable of magazines due to calendar variances with their publishing dates.