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At the 34th Annual General Meeting held on 27 June a new President and Executive Committee were elected. Paul Flint has taken over from retiring President Gerry Anslow, to head up the new committee of this social club for retired professional and business executives. Paul, who sold his business in Basingstoke in 2007, now leads this all male organisation as it enters its 35th year of operation. He became a member of the Probus Club in 2009 and has been their Programme Secretary for the last three years being responsible for finding speakers for their monthly meetings. He also manages, with another member, retired GP Dr Raja Cavale, the development of the club’s web site so as to provide a comprehensive overview of the club’s activities to prospective members and he also writes reports on the speaker meetings for publication in local community magazines.

Mr Flint, who moved to Hatch Warren in 1999 from Shinfield with his late wife, has three married children and four grandchildren. Two daughters live in Basingstoke, one in Hatch Warren and the other in Chineham, and his son lives in Swallowfield. He says of his appointment, “Being a member of Probus has had a really positive effect on my life mixing with like minded people in a friendly social environment. Some of today’s members I knew when I was in business and the others make everyone feel welcome; there is great fellowship in this club.”

“Our membership has been around fifty for many years and we are always interested to find new members who can bring creative thinking and dynamism to help the club progress. We have a social programme that involves wives and partners and also outside trips and visits which are greatly enjoyed.”

At the last speaker evening meeting of the current season, members of the Probus Club of Basingstoke had the pleasure of one of their members giving a talk on his experiences as a diamond polisher. Chris Barton, ably assisted on the evening by his wife Jenny, who live in Robin Close, Kempshott, had worked for the Basingstoke company, L M Van Moppes who were then based in Lister Road.

Less than 20% of diamonds are suitable as a girl’s best friend, the majority being used for industrial applications. Originally an engineer for the company making diamond cutting tools, Chris moved into the highly skilled area of diamond polishing. And it was this side of his involvement with this trade that he was able to educate his audience of retired professional and business men at their meeting at Christ Church in Chineham.

To create a diamond normally requires three conditions, those of temperature, pressure and time. The basic material has to have a carbon content which is exposed to 900 – 1300 degrees Centigrade, under pressure of approximately 400 tons per square inch, over 1 – 3.3 billion years. This time period is up to 75% of the age of the Earth. It had also to be in a stable environment below continental plates at a depth of 90 – 120 miles. Eventually as a result of volcanic activity magna was forced to the surface becoming igneous rock containing its precious cargo.

But there is another scenario that has the conditions for the creation of a diamond which is a meteor strike. There is evidence of this in the Russian Popigai crater in Siberia which is the seventh largest verified impact on Earth, occurring approximately 35 million years ago. The impactor was calculated to have been 5 miles in diameter and made a crater 62 miles wide. The shock pressures from the impact instantaneously transformed graphite in the ground into diamonds within a radius of over 8 miles of the impact point. However the diamonds from this area are only suitable for industrial applications and are not fit for the jewellery market.

Pure diamonds are transparent but some are coloured by nitrogen which gives a yellow or brown tinge, or a blue tint caused by baron. Gems are priced according to the 4Cs; carat, cut, colour and clarity. A single cut diamond will have 18 facets while the larger gem stone has 58 facets equally cut above and below its girdle. The final weight of a cut and polished stone is half of its original weight but the residue is saved for industrial use.

Potential members of the Probus Club of Basingstoke, which has been in existence for nearly 35 years, can visit their web site http://www.probusbasingstoke.wordpress.com to see their various activities or call their secretary Bryan Harvey for an informal chat on 01256 321473.

The funeral service for Hugh Moore took place at Basingstoke Crematorium at 2.00pm on Thursday 9 May .

The club was represented by President Gerry Anslow, Vice President Paul Flint, Secretary Bryan Harvey and Immediate Past President Tony Aichison.

We learned from the eulogy was that it was war service that first took Hugh to South Africa where he became a pilot. While it was always interesting to hear Hugh telling stories of his time in Uganda where he had several altercations with Idi Amin and his henchmen it was for his educational work in that country that he was awarded the M.B.E.

Dean Wall, the Recreation and Visitors Services Manager of the Basingstoke Canal Authority, based at Mytchett, gave an interesting presentation to the group of retired professional and business men at last month’s evening meeting held at Christ Church, Chineham.

With historical records and photographs he was able to show how the original plan was for a canal from the navigable section of the River Wey, that joins the Thames, to pass through Surrey and Hampshire and on to Basingstoke. The aim of the canal was to increase trade between Hampshire and London. Part two of the plan was then to construct a canal from Basingstoke to join the Kennet & Avon canal. This would enlarge the potential commercial traffic but importantly would provide a source of water for the original Basingstoke canal. This never came to fruition and the basin and wharf in Basingstoke became the terminus and is now gone forever within the construction of the Festival Place shopping centre.

Measuring originally 37 miles in length, rising 254 feet from Surrey into Hampshire, it was necessary to build 29 locks. The steepest section at Deepcut (named after the construction) has 11 locks adjacent to the Pirbright army depot. In addition there were 5 lock houses, 69 bridges, a tunnel of 1,230 yards at Greywell, 4 wharves and 3 warehouses. 200 men armed with little more than shovels and wheel barrows took six years to construct this waterway which was fully opened in 1794. The term “navvy” is an abbreviation of the word “navigator” given to the men all those years ago.

Perhaps because the second phase was not built and given the perennial water shortage of the Basingstoke canal which meant that at certain times parts were unnavigable, the canal always struggled to operate on a commercial basis. Materials for the construction of the London to Southampton railway were carried on the canal and once open the railway became an unbeatable competitor. Over the next century the canal slowly fell into a state of dereliction with lock gates rotting, the canal choked with weeds, its towpath overgrown and the collapse of Greywell tunnel. Today 32 miles of it is restored thanks to the formation of the Basingstoke Canal Authority, funded by Hampshire and Surrey together with six borough councils along its route. The canal was re-opened in 1991 and today the Authority employs a team of rangers that carry out maintenance and protects wildlife.

It is estimated that the canal is used by millions of walkers, cyclists, anglers and boaters every year. The Authority manages the balance between recreation and conservation by providing a beautiful facility that offers fantastic opportunities for everyone.

The Probus Club of Basingstoke has a full diary of interesting speakers and potential new members can find out more about the club by looking at their web site http://www.probusbasingstoke.wordpress.com or by phoning their secretary Bryan Harvey on 01256 321473.

Barbara Burfoot was the speaker at the evening meeting of the Probus Club of Basingstoke. She is one of the nominated speakers of the R.N.L.I. or to give it its full name, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The subject of her talk was its history, development and favourable image within the nation’s psyche to the group of retired professional and business managers held at Christ Church in Chineham.

She has a wealth of experiences having worked as a volunteer within the R.N.L.I. for many years, which continued after the passing of her husband who was the chairman of the Alton branch. Barbara Burfoot became the branch secretary many years ago and is also involved with the promotion of fund raising products for public purchase. Money is clearly a major concern for this Institution as it is run entirely on voluntary contributions, not only from the charity collecting boxes in the shape of a lifeboat, but increasing so from bequests in wills.

The crews of all the lifeboats have traditionally been volunteers but with a changing face of water borne rescues in the River Thames in the London area, where they have four lifeboat stations, it was realised that a different approach was necessary for the three man crews. This was due to the difficulty of getting three volunteers quickly on station with the traffic problems in the capital. They resolved this by employing one or two salaried persons to be permanently on station supported by volunteers, some of whom are resting actors, who can be on station for the whole of a shift. The traditional boom of the maroon signal of an emergency call for the volunteer crews has, these days, been replaced with modern technology of pagers and mobile phones.

The latest expansion of the Institution’s activities is that of flood rescue; something that in recent times has made headline news on many occasions and where several lives have been saved by the crews working in partnership with all the usual emergency services.

The Thames rescue boats are some of the smallest in the range of vessels operated by the R.N.L.I. and are water jet propelled as the use of propellers was considered to be too dangerous when pulling survivors on board. The extensive range of life boats in the fleet has the largest sea going versions costing several million pounds down to the inshore semi – inflatables, with powerful outboard engines, costing tens of thousands. The Institution has recently decided to take up the building of some of the medium sized boat designs after their supplier of hulls went out of business. A factory is being built close by their headquarters in Poole for this project and apprentices are being recruited.

The Poole headquarters has one of the largest water tanks in the world which is used not only for the training of rescue crews with variable conditions making for a completely realistic situation but is also used for film and T.V. location work. The centre is open for visitors including offering overnight accommodation.

The Probus Club of Basingstoke is now in its 34th year and potential members can see more about its activities on their web site http://www.probusbasingstoke.wordpress.com or they can ring their secretary Bryan Harvey on 01256 321473.

John Dunn honoured

The Committee is pleased to announce that John Dunn has been delighted to accept the honour of becoming a Life Member of the Club. He and Kathleen are glad to be with their family in the USA but really do miss their association with Probus. He sends his regards and best wishes to all the members and greatly looks forward to keeping in touch.

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On a bright but bitterly cold March day several members of the Probus Club of Basingstoke paid a visit to RAF Odiham. They were part of a privileged small group of people, the others being a helicopter enthusiasts club from the Midlands, who were allowed on the base to get close to one of the Chinook helicopters that fly in the local area.

The trip had been arranged some months ago when one of the Probus Club members, who is a retired RAF Group Captain, contacted the base to see if some of his fellow members could make this visit.

Gerry Anslow the current President of the Probus Club was delighted to go.

“We firstly went to a briefing room where we had a PowerPoint presentation by one of the pilots who showed how the Chinooks were used not only in theatres of war but also in civilian crisis like earthquakes and flooding.”

“The cycle of events leading to posting to Afghanistan was explained and we were amazed to learn that Camp Bastian is the size of Reading. Then we were taken out on to the pan to get a really good look at one of these wonderful machines”

Following an introduction by another pilot of the physical properties of the Mk2 version the visitors were allowed on board where they heard more details of the capabilities of this versatile helicopter. There are upgrades underway to bring all the Chinooks up to the same capability of the latest Mk 4.

One of the club’s members was on a voyage of remembrance. Geoff Twine of Bramley was stationed at RAF Odiham fifty eight years ago when two squadrons of Hawker Hunters were based there.

“It was wonderful to renew my relationship with this base but so much has changed in the intervening half century. It has grown out of all recognition and of course there has been the shift from being a fixed wing jet fighter base to being one of the main Chinook bases in the RAF. And to be able to sit in the cockpit of the Chinook was a great experience.”

The visit concluded with lunch in the Junior Ranks mess with the general opinion that things on the culinary front had also improved significantly since some of the members were in Her Majesty’s forces.