Author: Paul Flint

Should she be worried at the thought of giving her talk for the first time to the all male audience of the Probus Club of Basingstoke? After all she had almost thirty years’ experiences to call upon, all far more serious than this. The good, the bad and the downright funny is how Jackie Dimmock described situations she encountered as an officer in the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Police. Discounting the usual Powerpoint slides, instead she used her hobby of quilting to amusingly illustrate some of her varied incidents as customs and practices changed over the years.

The W in WPC eventually went missing, as a Police Constable had that rank irrespective of gender. However, the uniform did not change until later so she had a straight skirt, stockings and suspenders. Not the most practical attire when responding to a reported break in and forced to climb over a school wall after her male colleague jokingly told her that the gate was locked.

In those days she was issued with a radio but had to buy a pair of handcuffs and a small truncheon that fitted inside her shoulder bag which she would swing with great effect at miscreants.Trousers came later, but these were men’s trousers and consequently fitted women badly. Today female Police Constables have tailored trousers, advanced radios, CS sprays, handcuffs, cameras and stab vests.

Undertaking a police driving course, Jackie was inexplicably taught to double de-clutch even though the car had a synchromesh gear box. Let out in a small car, although fitted with a blue light it had no siren so she had to use the horn to get through traffic. On her first outing she made the classic error of driving the wrong way up a one way street. Chasing a suspect would have been her excuse had she been reported.

At a meeting led by the then Chief Constable she failed to ask about a report that 99% of female officers suffered sexual harassment at work. Being news to Jackie she afterwards quizzed the Chief Constable as she wondered if she was the missing one percent. He said that to rectify matters she would be welcome to visit his office anytime.                          How times change.

Following on from serving five years in the Child Protection Unit Jackie become a Schools Liaison officer. She was able to tease information out of children relating to domestic problems. Children told of drug addict mothers using a lighter under a tea spoon in the kitchen. Others being abused and their siblings in the same school equally suffering were unknown to teachers. Fathers who drove while drunk or did not wear a seat belt were all reported by the children.

Drug raids required a female office to be part of the team as she would be needed to handle women suspects. One raid on a bungalow the suspect escaped out of a window. Jackie leaned out trying to spot him. An inquisitive donkey came up to the window and bit Jackie’s left breast. Everyone said that they should examine the damaged area as it needed to be recorded in the accident book.

In the early days of DNA she became a scene of crimes officer.  A girl had been murdered alongside the Basingstoke canal in 1981 with no suspect emerging. All the evidence was kept in Basingstoke. In 2002, in the north, a wife reported her husband for assault. Using familial DNA profiling he was eventually charged with the murder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always known as Bert within the Probus Club, twelve members attended his funeral service at the crematorium on Tuesday 1^st October 2019.  What an uplifting experience it turned out to be.

Arriving differently to custom and practice, Bert’s wicker coffin was transported not in the traditional hearse but in a motor cycle’s side car that had caused quite an interest as it travelled through Basingstoke.

 

Family pall bearers each had a miniature whisky before they carried him into the crematorium where one of Bert’s grandsons played on an electronic piano during and at the conclusion of the humanist style service.

Led by Bert’s eldest son, Martin, this was very much a family affair along with the younger son, Jerry, grandsons and granddaughters celebrating Bert’s 96 years.  Each gave a snap shot of Bert’s impact on his family as his career took them from Lancashire, Staffordshire, Scotland and eventually to Sherfield on Loddon. His profession as an analytical chemist progressed until his final posting at Burghfield where he was CinC – Chemist in Charge.

Typically of course we learned a great deal about Bert’s private passions – his two sons as they grew up as he taught them about the natural habitat and then their children, his piano playing apparently a daily occurrence, his interest in motor bikes even to having one after retirement, being a writer to his family especially when he was given an iPad which allowed him almost daily emails keeping his family up to date about his various activities.

A touching symbol at the conclusion of the service Martin handed out single stemmed roses for virtually everyone to place on Bert’s coffin.

 

 

Wacky, weird and wonderful are some of the thoughts that come to mind hearing about and viewing some of the inventions covered in an illustrated talk by Nick Brazil to the Probus Club of Basingstoke.

Of course all the inventions were from past ages but some had the germ of an idea that came to fruition and can be seen today. Although some inventions made it into production the vast majority got as far as the Patent Office and no further. Many offered labour saving as their main attraction such as the canine powered sewing machine where a dog ran on a turntable replacing the traditional treadle. And the dog powered turn spit saving servants the labour of continually rotating the carcase of meat over the fire. A type of dog was bred for this task and it is said Queen Victoria had two of them. The breed died out after the invention of different cooking equipment.

Multitasking is nothing new. What about the machine that was a combination baby rocker and butter churner which enabled the busy farmer’s wife to also have free hands to continue with her knitting. Or the fresh air bed that had a large trumpet shape over the sleeping person that brought in fresh air from outside. The problem was that on waking and sitting up the person banged their head on the trumpet.

The sweat bed, designed to rid the occupant of a fever, had a boiler at its foot to heat up pipes under the mattress. The electric under blanket today offers the same result. And the swooning chair that provided some sort of recovery to ladies fainting in their tight corsets and clothing in the heat of an airless room. By sitting on a chair with a descending cushion it caused two paddles to fan the face of the distressed young lady.

Talking of hot rooms there was the invention of a table railway that brought food to diners that overcame the need for servants to be skilled in the art of silver service. Similar ideas can be seen in several restaurants today.

Britain has always had variable weather conditions and the thought of being out in a thunder storm and being struck by lightning saw the invention of the lightning conductor umbrella. This had a tall aerial to attract the lightning and a wire to take the strike to ground. It was modified for some ladies’ hats. Not to be outdone in the millenary department there was the portable umbrella built in to the hat which is something that keeps coming up these days. One idea in the not really successful category was the invention in the German army in Africa of a rain collecting hat complete with a small tap.

Aerial photography developed by using pigeons with a camera strapped to them. The picture was taken at a particular height caused by atmospheric pressure. Two photographs could be taken by strapping two small cameras to the pigeon. This was superseded in WW1 with early planes fitted with cameras for reconnaissance purposes. The Lumiere brothers in France developed a successful type of colour photography known as autochrome that only stopped in the 1950s.

Transport had many eccentric developments. The Danish Hunting Monocycle could travel at 24 mph and the American Monocycle beat that at 30 mph. The Dutch military Multi cycle in 1887could transport twelve soldiers on one vehicle and for something completely left field was the Telegraph Wire Bicycle in 1890  which, as the name suggests, was suspended from telegraph wires rather than running on the ground.

And was there a castle in the air? There certainly was when at the Antwerp exhibition in 1894 the idea was promoted of using 150,000 cubic feet of lighter than air gas in a balloon to support the building of a town. Residents would ascend and descend using elevators. Naturally it was all hot air and it never saw the light of day.

 

 

 

Geoff Twine (as the current holder of the Shield) organised this event and 7 members attended. Geoff Twine, Bryan Nagle, Alan May, Richard Stettner, Jeff Grover, David Wickens and John Swain all battled it out for the 2019 honours in this Stableford Competition. This means that points are awarded on completion of each hole depending on how many shots it took and what handicap you are playing off. The person with the most points is declared the winner.

The day was just right for a game of golf after the preceding days had been quite rainy. We all posed for our photos at the first tee before setting off at 10 am. In the first group was Bryan Nagle and Alan May in a buggy together with Richard Stettner.

 

The other four all played together and Geoff Twine is seen putting on the 18th green.

 

As usual it was a day of some good shots and some bad and after all the scores were in and checked it was surprising that very few points separated all 7 players but the winner by 1 point was Richard Stettner who was presented with the Shield by Geoff Twine.

 

Everyone enjoyed an excellent golfer’s meal of ham, egg and chips together with a small libation and plenty of chat about what had gone on throughout the day.

Let’s hope that Richard can organise another super day out next year.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 13 August was the date for the annual Probus Summer Pub lunch and this year Barton’s Mill in Old Basing was the chosen venue. Thirty six arrived simultaneously at the appointed hour of 12 noon that at first glance appeared to cause difficulties for the bar and kitchen staff as there was some rumour that it could be anything between 45 minutes and one hour to get our food.

Reality proved better than the forecast and although there was a crush at the bar placing orders the food arrived in the sort of time usually seen in such establishments.

The weather turned out pleasant and sixteen sat outside and twenty in the heavily beamed room slightly in the dark but it is possibly very welcoming in the winter when the fire is lit.

 

What a day to remember! It had been over a year since booking our place but a party of 29 consisting of members and their wives/partners of the Probus Club had a wonderful experience as they were present at the Commandant’s Parade at the world famous Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst.

 

 

 

The whole day was one to remember of history, pageantry and military precision. The proceedings took place in and around the Old College building and on the parade ground outside. Starting with coffee in the Indian Room, with wonderful stained glass windows depicting British military history, the party, along with around 2,000 other guests, went outside where two large stands had been constructed completely under canvas. Between them was the dias for the salute to be taken by the Commandant as he reviewed the parade of the Officer Cadets, some third of whom were at the end of 12 months training before commissioning as an officer in today’s army.

 

While the majority were British, there were several foreign nations on parade as Sandhurst is recognised as one of the world’s premier officer training institutions. One American cadet had previously stated that while West Point in Virginia is a university Sandhurst is the place to go to learn to be a military officer. There are typically over 90 Overseas Officer Cadets from up to 40 different nations at Sandhurst at any time. Since 1947, over 4,800 young people from 120 different countries have trained alongside British Officer Cadets, reinforcing the ties between the British Army and the Armies of our friends and allies.

 

 

At this Parade, of four top awards two were for Overseas Officer Cadets – the International Sword was presented to a Cadet from Ukraine and the International award went to a Cadet from USA. The recipients are clearly heading for high office.  We were told that there are today twelve world leaders, either political or royal heads of state who had attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

 

The breakdown of those at the academy has 12% female, 80% graduates and 70% public school where the tradition of the army cadet force generates interest in following a military career. Many of the tutors are NCOs who bring real army experience and were visible on parade in charge of the various sections as they marched past the saluting dias of the Reviewing Officer. The band of the Parachute Regiment provided a varied programme of music throughout the Parade.

 

 

The audience had to stand on several occasions as certain parts of the Parade dictated which gave a feeling of being involved in the proceedings. Gentlemen had to remove their hats and any in uniform had to salute. The Commandant and his party inspected the Parade and the Sovereign’s Platoon presented Arms following which they trooped the Sovereign’s Banner. The Parade marched past in slow and quick time and then in review order. The Commandant addressed the Parade and then presented the awards.

 

 

At the end of the Parade and when all the Cadets had marched off the Commandant and his party walked across the parade ground and after thanking the band went up the steps and through the portico entrance into the Old College. The Adjutant who had been on horseback throughout the proceedings most impressively rode his horse across the parade ground and up the steps and through the large doorway of the Old College a tradition started in the nineteenth century.

 

 

 

Afterwards the Probus party had lunch in one of the many restaurants used by the troops before being taken on a guided tour of the various rooms in the Old College and later outside to visit the Church of England chapel in the grounds. This contained many wall plaque memorials to fallen officers in WW1. Modern casualties were commemorated with carved wooden displays.

 

This had been a full day revealing many aspects of the history and tradition that lies behind the training of an officer in today’s army. The discipline and skill shown on the parade ground will leave an abiding memory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the first meeting of the new Probus year the new President Richard Wood of Bramley,welcomed two ladies to their initial meeting of their 41^st year.  The Worshipful the Mayor of Basingstoke & Deane, Cllr Diane Taylor, was their guest of honour. She was presented with cheque by Richard Wood as a contribution towards her charity appeal.

The speaker was round the world cyclist Barbara Cummings. Not one to sit at home and lose physical and mental resilience after being made redundant from the NHS, Barbara, from Old Basing, decided to retire in 2012 and embarked on what has become  a series of long distance cycle rides.

 

 

Her thinking was very simple – going north was up hill while going south was down hill.  With that simple philosophy she decided that her first long distance ride was down the east coast of America as it had a “Greenway” path from north to the south.  With a stop off in Iceland she saw a sculpture put up by an American benefactor which claimed to have a similar one in Florida. That became a target – to see the one near Key West. That trip was 2,500 miles but had not been too difficult.

After that her cycling adventures multiplied with one from the Russian border near St Petersburg which took two months, and another across France from the east coast to the Mediterranean. A four months trip in Australia and New Zealand was completed by visiting Fiji and Hawaii. India was next, followed by North Africa.

In a few months Barbara will be tackling the USA Pacific coast, and like all her trips she travels alone. Never being concerned about being a single woman on a camp site she has been overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers who have given her soap powder, a luminous watch so that she could see the time at night in her tent, given her lifts to a country’s border and even taken her into their homes with overnight accommodation.

She has now cycled in 24 countries and during that time only suffered three punctures, and that was on her east coast trip in USA. She has cycled on every continent except Antarctica but even that is planned for 2021.

She self finances all her trips but gives talks about what she has seen as a means of raising funds for two charities, Headway, where she is a trustee, and Asthma UK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The underlying ethos of providing an important avenue of welcome interest and stimulus for those in retirement applies today just as it did over forty years ago when the Probus Club of Basingstoke was formed.”

This was the view of the club’s outgoing President, Chris Perkins MVO, in his report to members of this social organisation for retired professional and business managers at its 40^th Annual General Meeting on 27 June. It was held at Christ Church in Chineham which for many years hosted their speaker events.

Today the club meets at the Test Valley Golf club on the second Tuesday of most months with a guest speaker and lunch followed by some business discussions. There is also a social pub lunch every month and there are outings and visits during the year which include the wives and partners of members. The next formal visit, which had to be booked over a year ago, is to the Commandant’s Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in August.

Richard Wood, of Bramley, was installed as their new President by outgoing Secretary, Paul Flint, of Kempshott. Also retiring, after each had served for more than a decade, was Treasurer Alan May of Oakley and Outings Organiser, Tony Atchison, of Chineham. The newly appointed Secretary is Peter Hayes, along with Dr Jeff Grover as Treasurer, both from Bramley.  David Wickens, a recent mover from Chineham to Newbury, was elected as Vice President while maintaining his role as the Programme Secretary being responsible for arranging the wide array of interesting guest speakers. Outgoing President, Chris Perkins MVO, of Kempshott, will now become the Outings Organiser while Alex Marianos, also a Bramley resident, continues as Dining Steward and Paul Flint continues in his role of Publicity Officer.

 

 

The first Probus Club was founded in 1965 in Caterham, Surrey, and in those days consisted of mainly retired members of Rotary. Today its members are from a wide background of professional and business managers as well as the military.  There are Probus clubs in most towns with in excess of 180,000 members in UK and extends throughout the English speaking world.

 

 

Jenny Mallin, who gave a talk to the Probus Club of Basingstoke, is rightly proud of her five generations of women of British ancestry in India from the days of the Empire to the present day. Although based on her great great great  grandmother’s hand written recipes she has written and published a  charming book which is not just a collection of cookery expertise but it encompasses the life and times of Anglo-Indians during the prime days of the Raj spanning the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Army service took the first generation from Mirfield in Yorkshire to India in the late 1700s and she has established a family tree to the present day. During this time each generation of women added to the original cookbook which formed the basis of her talk.

She covers the railways which grew from 25,000 miles to over 41,000 miles with one grandfather a train driver. Another was a teacher who with the Maharaja of Mysore founded a school that today is the Mysore University, another antecedent became Postmaster General and yet another was the governess to sixteen years old Benazir Bhutto, who became prime minister of Pakistan on two occasions.

She talked about her parents marrying in the Andaman islands, the Indian expedition to Mesopotamia during World War 1, the Victorian style of dressing in the 19^th century, Eventide homes in Bangalore,  Poonas’s military station, of hunting trips and the 1,000 miles walk back from Burma during World War 2. The Imperial Civil Service had 1000 people administering a country of over 300 million inhabitants and many bungalows were built to house the travelling administrators. Jenny Mallin has every reason to call her book a memoir instead of a cook book, though fans of cooking will find it a treasure trove.

A practical chef she has been a tutor at many prestigious culinary centres including in our area the Newlyn’s Farm Cookery School near Odiham and at Lainston House hotel near Winchester.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The annual Spring Ladies’ lunch was the latest formal gathering of the Probus Club of Basingstoke, the social club for retired professional and business managers. Organised once again by Alan and Liliane May they came up with the goods when they arranged this occasion for members and their spouses. It was held at the Test Valley Golf Club.  By working closely with the chef they ensured that all forty one attendees received their pre-ordered food – there were four selections available from three courses – and they produced all the printed menus and table name cards as well as the information sheets after they devised two separate quizzes. And if that wasn’t enough that also ran  the raffle.

Alan has been the Honorary Treasurer of the Probus Club of Basingstoke for over a decade. In that time he and Liliane have become experts at successfully arranging not only this lunch but also the club’s Christmas dinner. While these are the two formal events to which wives/lady friends are invited there are many other social occasions during the year when the distaff side of the family are involved.

Guest of honour was Janet Fagg, the President of Basingstoke Ladies’ Probus Club, who was welcomed by Vice President Richard Wood. She was equally at home on this occasion as the wives of some members of the men’s club belong to the Ladies’ Probus Club.

For more information about the Probus Club of Basingstoke see their web site http://www.probusbasingstoke.wordpress.com or for an informal chat contact their Secretary, Paul Flint, on 07770 886521. For enquiries about Basingstoke Ladies’ Probus Club contact Janet Fagg on 07986 133382.