News

The first speaker of the 36th season for the Probus Club of Basingstoke reassured the audience of retired professional and business men of the high safety standards when travelling by train. The topic “Training the Train Drivers” was expertly covered by Chris Vickers of South West Trains who became a train driver fourteen years ago. For the last seven years he has been a Driver Instructor, including eighteen month’s secondment to the training centre at Basing View in Basingstoke.
There is fierce competition to become a train driver with a waiting list of several years before the applicant gets to the initial interview. Typically, from 350 applicants only one is normally accepted on to the training scheme. Even then there is fall out as a result of candidates failing some of the rigorous examinations during the fourteen months in training.
The curriculum covers every aspect about the tracks, signalling, stations on each line, safety standards and that is before they reach the stage of getting their hands on a real train. Initially they are taught with simulators. The simulators, similar in principle to the ones used to train airline pilots, are based on the Desiro trains used by South West Trains. They are used to assess trainee drivers as well as qualified drivers on their knowledge of the latest rules.
Eventually the trainees are assigned to a Driver Instructor who acts as their mentor and sits with them in the cab whilst gaining experience driving real trains. Having completed all the necessary training they will take a final assessment that lasts for five days. Having passed that hurdle they have to learn the routes that they will drive over. The first time a driver goes solo is something they will never forget. Gaining a train driver’s licence is the fulfilment of the ambition of many but achieved by only a few.

The first lunch of the 36th Probus season was held at Test Valley Golf Club on Tuesday 8th July 2014. Newly elected President David Tivey welcomed the guest of honour, the Worshipful the Mayor of Basingstoke & Deane BC, Cllr Roger Gardiner. The Mayor spoke about the three charities he had selected for his sponsorship during his year of office and President David Tivey presented him with a cheque from our club in support of his target.

This is the third year running that the club has been visited by the mayor at the inaugural lunch.

Despite inconvenient road works close to the golf club which had the potential to cause delays members arrived on time and enjoyed a good lunch.

Thanks are due to Dr Raja Cavale for being behind the camera. More photographs of the lunch can be seen in the Picture Gallery which you will find in the drop down menu MORE.

At the 35th Annual General Meeting of the Probus Club of Basingstoke David Tivey was appointed President for the ensuing year. A retired Factory Inspector, he lives with his wife Bridget in Cliddesden Court near Queen Mary’s College. He moved to Basingstoke from Derbyshire in 1976 with his wife and family. He has two sons, both married and five school age grandchildren, all living in Hampshire.

“I was introduced to Probus by a former colleague but had not regarded myself as a “clubby” person. I found a very warm welcome from a group of men, many of whom had remarkable life experiences and had some great tales to tell. I immediately felt myself at home in their company.”

He went on “I want, in my year of office, to rebuild our membership towards the constitutional figure of 55 and to encourage more members and their wives and partners to join in and enjoy the social programme we arrange.”

The retiring Secretary, Gerry Anslow, from Kempshott, was presented with an engraved glass bowl by the outgoing President Paul Flint, to mark Gerry’s ten years of service on the club’s committee. Paul Flint of Hatch Warren will become the Secretary and Alan Porter of Bramley returns to the committee as Vice President.

Following the meeting the members enjoyed canapés provided by Lesley Atchison, wife of Tony, the Outings Organiser, and wine provided by Gerry Anslow. Lesley was presented with flowers and wine in appreciation of her support during the year.

Probus given Further Amusing Glimpses of Army Life

This was the title of the talk given to the Probus Club of Basingstoke by retired Major General Peter Chambers and his wife Valerie. They had previously given a talk to this club for retired business and professional men in October 2012 which was so well received that they were invited to be the last speakers in the current season. This couple rose to the occasion with great aplomb with stories about their experiences as Peter advanced up the ranks to become Deputy Chief of Staff UK Land Forces while Valerie had to cope with the pressures of domestic issues with various postings and housing problems.

Valerie and Peter described various incidents and aspects of life in some of the places they had lived and served. They spoke of amusing and light hearted experiences though occasionally with a serious undertone. They were able to give glimpses of the variety and advantages of service life whilst Peter expressed some concerns about current military capability.

They lived in Germany, on and off, for 12 years during the Cold War. Inevitably therefore, much of their talk was focussed on service life in Germany and in particular on Berlin. They quoted many examples of soldiers’ humour and of the resilience of Army wives, whose husbands spent long periods away from home on operations and training. Valerie described what life was like living in married quarters, a subject she knew something about as they had 26 moves in 33 years service!

They have recently returned from a visit to Moscow. This was essentially an international reunion of officers and civil servants who had attended a year’s course at the London based Royal College of Defence Studies in the 1990s when Peter was the Senior Army Member on the teaching staff. They were in Moscow for the May Day Parade and for the build up to the Victory Day Parade on 9th May and described some aspects of the atmosphere there during this period.

An inspirational illustrated talk by a mountaineer who is raising money for two local charities, St Michael’s Hospice and Marwell Widlife was given to the Probus Club by local man Stephen Court.

Although only twenty seven years old and a serving police officer based in Basingstoke he has been on a mission for several years with £40,000 as his target. He has so far raised over £7,000.

In January this year he went to the south of Argentina to tackle Mount Aconcagua, which at 6,961 metres or 22,837 feet is the world’s second highest mountain. Even in the height of the southern hemisphere’s summer the temperature on the mountain ranged from 30 degrees during the day to minus 10 degrees at night.

This expedition was the culmination of several years’ training by ascending Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Toubkal in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco; from the peak it was possible to see the Sahara desert to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and Machu Picchu in Peru. Last October his attempt to ascend Mera Peak in Nepal had to be abandoned due to illness, so it was easy to understand that his efforts have a distinct element of danger.

Altitude sickness can be a common problem along with heart attacks and falls on high mountains and an average of three people die each year on Mount Aconcagua. Despite these dangers the mountain attracts considerable numbers of climbers during the summer season and the rangers, who strictly control matters, have organised permanent camps at different altitudes.

Approximately only 40% of the climbers reach the summit. The rest are thwarted by accidents, illness and weather problems. In fact just as he was about to attempt the final ascent the rangers closed the mountain due to approaching bad weather from the Pacific Ocean. Disappointed, Stephen started the descent when he badly damaged his knee. As a consequence he had to be airlifted off the mountain by helicopter operating close to their maximum height due to the thin air.

Malcolm Collinson, the President of Deane Probus, was the guest of honour at the final lunch at Sandford Springs golf club on Tuesday 8th April after ten years of using this venue. Ironically, most of the reduced attendance of twenty four members agreed that the food on the day was probably the best we have had this year.

After the Ladies’ Spring Lunch at Oakley Hall in May, we shall be moving to Test Valley golf club which is half way between Overton and Micheldever. The first lunch being on Tuesday 3rd June (not 10th – second Tuesday as usual). Thereafter we shall go back to the second Tuesday of each month.

“Different Worlds” was the subject of a wine tasting evening enjoyed by a full house of members, their wives /partners, family and friends held at Christ Church in Chineham.

Helen Malcolm, the Customer Tastings Manager of Laithwaite’s Wines, was the guest presenter. Full of enthusiasm for her subject she has worked for Laithwaite’s for four years since graduating in Hospitality Management from Portsmouth University. Part of her course involved taking the intermediate certificate of the Wine & Educational Trust and her employer has since put her through the advanced course.

She set about educating her audience, who probably had ample experience of wine drinking over the years, that the same grape demonstrates different characteristics when made into wine in either the old or new world. The old world rules and regulations held dear in France are not followed in the new world of Australia and New Zealand. The new world uses large stainless steel vats instead of the expensive small wooden barrels which the French producers consider gives an additional flavour. Not to be outdone the new world wineries today are adding oak chips into the stainless steel vats to see if they can match their European counterparts.

It was the new world that set the precedence for having descriptive labels on the reverse of bottles to aid the purchaser when making their selection. Interestingly this is now being followed in some, but not all instances, in the old world where they have recognised the necessity to help customers make the right choice.

But, of course, it was the actual tasting of the wines during the evening which demonstrated the differences that the presenter had been keen to impart. A Sancerre 2012 from France was compared to a Sauvignon Blanc 2013 from New Zealand. Made from the same grape the French wine did not identify the name to the uninitiated whereas the New Zealand wine made no apology for saying clearly that it was made from the Sauvignon grape. The red Australian Shiraz 2011 (the grape is known as Syrah in France) was then compared to the top Chateauneuf-du-Pape which retails at over twice the price of the Shiraz.

The presenter had previously advised what range of nibbles should accompany each wine to enhance the flavours, which had been made by wives and family of members. It all contributed to a very enjoyable experience.

David Carwardine and Paul Flint

The lunch on Tuesday 11 March 2014 was the final such event for David Carwardine who later this month is moving with Betty to a retirement complex in Wiltshire to be nearer his family. Like all matters concerning property, everything always takes longer than anticipated and David told his audience that he actually placed his deposit for his new apartment in November 2012. He had a buyer for his house shortly thereafter who moved into rented accommodation to await David and Betty’s departure. What it is to have such a desirable property to sell!

David spoke warmly of his 23 years as a member of the Probus Club of Basingstoke, reminiscing about some of the social occasions he and Betty enjoyed. One such was to Bruges where his seventieth birthday was celebrated in a local eatery with the other Probus members on this trip. His joint venture of an investment club along with John Dunn, who is now resident in USA , Mike Jarvis and others actually made some profits but what happened to them was not disclosed.

What David was very sure about was that it was the variety of members’ backgrounds and experiences that made Probus such a pleasant organisation to belong to and he thanked everyone for their friendship over the years.

Mike Jarvis gave a response which incorporated the following aspects of David’s time in Probus.

David was VP when I joined in 1995

During his presidential year he started the practice of quarterly committee meetings prior to the monthly lunches which still endures.

He celebrated his 70th birthday on the outing to Bruges. The meal was memorable, but not the best we’ve had. We still enjoyed the occasion.

With John Dunn and six others we started The Peripatetic Investment Club in 2001. Our monthly meetings were fun and we even made a small profit.

He is moving to Wiltshire, into a retirement village. I well remember that he was responsible for the investment club buying shares in one of the developers of such villages. We made money.

David has been a loyal supporter of Probus throughout his membership. He has never been afraid to let committee members know if something can be improved. His gentle suggestions were always worth listening to. Many in this room will have had their ears bent.

In my experience David is unique. He is already an honorary life member, yet he still has been coming to meetings. Fortunately the committee was sharp enough to get his fee before changing his status.

I am certain you will all join me in wishing David and Betty every happiness in their new home and to say that if he ever wants to visit and attend a meeting he will be most welcome.