Event Reports
10th April 2024
Chairman’s welcome: The Chairman announced that the Club now had a total of 53 members. He welcomed the 28 members attending today including 2 guests - Joyce Fletcher and Ross Weekes.
Sick members: Tony Harris and Ron Thompson. Mike Battams said he had called in on Ron, who is doing well with his recovery; he also didn’t think it would be too long before we saw Ron back at the Probus meetings.
Correspondence: None received.
Minutes of the last meeting: These were accepted and there were no matters arising
AOB: GS mentioned the following events:
On April 30th we have been invited to join the St Catherine’s Driffield Support Group for ‘Tea, Scones and Natter’ at Highfield House. Tickets are available at £10 a head and if you are interested in attending this function you will need to speak to Gerald when he returns from his holiday. On his return Gerald will be organising the final arrangements for any members who put their names forward to visit St Catherine’s Hospice on April 17th.
Forms have been sent out for the evening cruise to Bempton Cliffs. Family and friends are more than welcome to join us on the trip if you know of anyone else who would be interested. It is a give-away price at just £12 per head!
Denise is having her hair cut at a Quiz Night Charity Fundraising Event to be held at the Cricket Club on the evening of Thursday 18th April. You can enter as a team of up to 4 people. Gerald has booked 8 tables for Probus members so please contact him if you would like to take part. There will also be an auction and a raffle on the night.
GS then handed the meeting over to Harry Houldsworth to present his new illustrated talk entitled
‘Driffield and Health’.
Harry said his talk would give the members an insight into the health issues affecting Driffield and the rural area from the 18th century through to the 1930s and how the role of local government evolved during this period. The advent of the Industrial Revolution (mid 1700s) saw large numbers of the rural population abandon villages and move to towns.
Amenities – fresh water, waste disposal, social care, policing, and housing – were unable to cope leaving the people living in very close proximity, resulting in unhealthy and unsanitary conditions. Planning was not in place to deal with demand on resources; government was remote and indifferent to the sufferings of the poor.
The Poor Law Act of 1834 specifies how the destitute in each town should be looked after; Driffield constructed a new workhouse, replacing the original built in 1742.
1840s – Edwin Chadwick (civil servant employed by the Poor Law Commission) assigned by Parliament to undertake an investigation into sanitation; his report identified a link between poor living standards and the spread of disease. (Harry said how revolutionary this idea was, when compared to today’s knowledge.)
With the Public Health Act, 1848, local authorities had the power to improve sanitation by collecting rubbish, building sewers, providing a clean water supply. Despite a public meeting, no action was taken to improve inadequate conditions in Driffield.
1862 sees a report mention “the parlous state of health in Driffield”, with the existence of a “bad smell” thought to be the cause of disease. Another public meeting resulted in further lack of action by authorities to make improvements.
A Board of Health created in March 1874 finally saw Driffield authorities accept they had to address inadequacies of local amenities; 1879 – 1884 saw the construction of a drainage scheme, a piping system and a pumping station (on Spellowgate), finally providing the town with a fresh water supply.
GS asked if there were any questions for Harry; with reference to this topic, Mike Battams spoke of his grandmother and her son being sent to the Driffield Workhouse in the 1920s.
GS thanked Harry for his very informative talk, with members showing their appreciation in the usual manner.
At the next Probus Club meeting, on Wednesday 24 April,
Steve Southcoat will give a talk (in character) entitled ‘The 17th Century Surgeon’
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27th March 2024
The Chairman welcomed 31 members and our guest speaker, Richard Mole.
Correspondence
Gerald Massey had now received the contact details for Techy Tea. (Please contact GM for now if you wish to seek IT help from them; full contact details will be sent out to members in due course).
The Saint Catherine’s Hospice Driffield Support Group had contacted GM, advertising their ‘Tea, Scones & Natter’ afternoon at Highfield House on April 30 , 2.00 – 4.00pm. GM will arrange to get tickets for those interested.
Proposed visit to Saint Catherine’s Hospice by the Probus Club has been arranged for April 17th, leaving the Cricket Club at 10.00am. The Hospice now has a newly-opened Bistro, and the group will have lunch there.
The Club had received an offer to ‘try out croquet’ from the Driffield Croquet Club. GM asked for a show of hands from those interested, and will contact the Croquet Club to make arrangements.
Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting:
The only point to mention was a mistake in typing of John Eldret’s name.
AOB
Wellbeing forms – GS reminded members to return their forms to co-ordinator Janet Thornton, noting any help they may be able to offer other members if the need arose. JT will get everything organised, so should anyone have a problem, at any time, or just needs some assistance, please do contact JT with your problem!
GM announced that the proposed Club visit to RAF Fylingdales, on 4th June, would not now go ahead, as no visits were being allowed at this time due to the level of the National security alert as a result of global unrest. He was, however, able to offer an alternative visit, and been able to hire ‘The Yorkshire Belle’ on the Club’s behalf for an evening cruise from Bridlington to Bempton Cliffs. The capacity of the ship has been limited to 100 for this cruise, and members are encouraged to invite guests, or pass information onto anyone the think may be interested. Details and booking forms will be sent out shortly.
The meeting was then handed over to guest speaker, Richard Mole, for his illustrated talk about the development and funding for the
Driffield Methodist Church – entitled ‘Demolition to Re-build’.
Richard stated that the original intention had just been to ‘re-order’ the church, i.e. gut the old building, and re-order the inside, whilst keeping the outer structure; this was to have taken approximately 10 years. However, the actual project took about 12 years to complete! To re-order the original building could have cost almost as much as the eventual new build, because of the condition of certain elements; this was part of the reason for the rebuilding, plus a complete re-imagining meant that a more sustainable and accessible building would be the result. There were a number of separate projects within the whole rebuild programme, enabling the applications for grants from various organisations. The new building is now used by multiple local clubs and groups, as well as for worship and Church events; the building is probably in use every day of every month! There is a Church Coffee Morning every Saturday, 10.30 – 11.00am and all are welcome to go along, and if interested have a look around (many Probus Club members are Methodists, and are usually there).
The Chairman thanked Richard Mole for his very interesting talk; there were handouts available, giving some more information of what had been necessary from ‘plans to completion’ of the very complex project.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 10th April; Harry Houldsworth will give an illustrated talk entitled ‘Driffield and Health’
The following talk, on Wednesday 25th April, will be a talk given by Steve Southcoat entitled ‘A 17th Century Surgeon’
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13th March 2024
This meeting started with a presentation from Dominic Platt of Techy Tea CIC. He had always been enthusiastic about, and interested in anything related to IT. He had worked in professional IT services at Nat West, helping to set up online banking for people. He has frequently helped family members with IT issues. Over time this morphed into Techy Tea, and they now operate free drop-in sessions in Nafferton Village Hall on Tuesday mornings. It is a private company, with a community-focussed interest, and can help with any number of technology-related problems, whether on phones, tablets, PC, sending emails, WhatsApp, storing digital photos, and so on. (You can even book home visits if you cannot get out.) Its particular focus is on helping older people get to grips with IT.
Dominic is at Nafferton Village Hall every Tuesday from 10.30am–12.30pm. Just drop in, or visit their website for more information:- www.techytea.co.uk; they also have a Facebook page. If you need to contact Dominic for any IT help, mention that you are a Probus Club member.
Chairman’s welcome
There were 35 members at the meeting (including Digby Lovel), with 2 guests – Dominic Platt & a colleague from Techy Tea.
Sick members
Ron Thompson, Tony Harris, Malcolm Winn. Gerald Massey welcomed Peter Hyde back today.
Matters arising from minutes of last meeting
GM mentioned that he thought Gina Wright had given a nice talk and was well-received by the Club.
New members
Digby Lovel had previously given a talk to the Club about ‘Men in Sheds’, and was now applying to join the Club. Accepted with a large majority show of hands.
AOB:
GS gave out information about a memorial service for late member, Jan Holman, being arranged by husband, David; this would take place on Friday 22nd March, in Nafferton Methodist Chapel at 2.00pm; it would be a celebration of her life, and it was asked that no black be worn. DH thanked GS & TS for the help and support they had given to him.>/p>
The Chairman asked that members should wear their name badges at meetings, please.
Member John Cook has resigned from Driffield Probus Club, stating that there is now more interest in Beverley about Probus, and he wants to concentrate on promoting the organisation there (where he lives).
GS gave an update on the Wellbeing Policy to members, and read out Janet Thornton’s (Co-ordinator) revised information sheet; she will be sending out an email about the policy shortly. Another volunteer is needed to work with Janet, and be her understudy when she is away. If you think you would like to help, please contact Janet. Peter Hyde said he thought this was “a jolly good idea”; David Holman said he “would be lost without Probus”. GM gave an outline as to the idea for forming a ‘wellbeing’ policy, due to the deaths in the last couple of years of two former members, both living alone and being lonely; it has taken about a year to put together and get to this point. He also emphasised that (at least) one other person is needed to assist Janet at certain times.
Members details list
A copy of this was made available to members at the meeting. TS expressed that the information is ONLY TO BE USED WITHIN THE CLUB, and should not, under any circumstances, be given out to anyone not a member of the Club. This is an exercise that has been done, periodically, since the formation of the Club, to allow members to contact any other member, should they have the need It is in accordance with the Club’s Data Protection Policy, and separate DP Procedure document, and members are given the opportunity to sign an exemption clause, when the documents are updated, and redistributed. (Any new members who have not had a copy of both the DP Policy and separate, Procedure document, please contact Tina Shelton at the next meeting, or by email. Also, should you not want your details made available to other members, please also let TS know.)
GM informed the members of a charity fund-raising event that he and Denise are involved with, and that she is having her long hair cut short for charity!. Denise explained her own personal reason for this, having been diagnosed with cancer 25 years ago. The event consists of a charity quiz evening, and a sponsored hair cutting session (whereby Denise hopes to raise £1,000), with all funds raised going to Saint Catherine’s Hospice, whilst Denise’s hair will be donated to make a wig for a cancer sufferer. It takes place at Driffield Recreation & Cricket Club, on Thursday 18th April from 7.00pm; it is open to the general public, but IS NOT a Probus event.
‘Meet the Members’
John Eldridge gave a short talk about himself: he had always lived in the locality, after being born in a railway carriage, called ‘The Bungalow’ which was his family home, in Aldborough. At 16 years old he became an apprentice engineer, ending up in the design office of a company called Priestmans, as a design draughtsman. He went to work at Sellafield, in the UK Atomic Energy Industry, living there with Elaine, his wife. (Unfortunately the meeting had to be brought to a close, as time was running out – no doubt, John will be able to finish his story at a future meeting!)
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 27th March, when we will have an illustrated talk by Richard Mole on ‘Demolition to re-build’ which tells the story of the development and funding for the Driffield Methodist Church.
Please note that this will be the last date for booking on to the visit to East Kirkby Airfield and the Aviation Heritage Museum, in Lincolnshire.
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28th February 2024
Chairman’s welcome: there were 33 members attending the meeting, with 1 guest (speaker Gina Wright) and 3 prospective new members.
GS spoke of the sad news about member Jan Holman. She had been one of the first ladies to join once the Club changed its Constitution; her death was sudden and unexpected, but David, Jan’s husband, was coping well at the moment. Whilst Jan did not want a funeral, David intended to organise a memorial service for her, and details will be sent out in due course.
Sick members: Tony Harris hopes to be able to join us again, soon. (Gerald Massey welcomed back Malcolm Winn, after his recent illness.)
Correspondence:
GM had received a letter from St. Catherine’s Hospice, on behalf of the Driffield Support Group, thanking the Club for the donation of £420; they stated that all money raised/donated goes towards patient care.
On April 18, Driffield Support Group will hold a fund-raising Quiz Night at the Cricket Club. At the same time, there will be a ‘Sponsored Hair Cut’, when Denise Massey will be donating her hair to charity. Details for this will sent out shortly.
St. Catherine’s Hospice will be contacting GM shortly to arrange a visit for members - details will be available soon.
Matters arising from minutes from last meeting (14th February):
Matters relating to St. Catherine’s Hospice, as above.
New members: there were 3 applications to join the Club, received from Deirdre Crane, Sue Dixon and Digby Lovell; all present in favour of accepting DC and SD as new members. Digby Lovell will be considered when he is able to attend.
AOB: the draw took place for the 2 extra tickets to the ‘Mayor’s Afternoon Tea’ taking place on Saturday 16th March at the Bell Hotel; the lucky winners picked to accompany Chairman Gareth Shelton, and wife (& member) Tina, were Anne Firth and Ray Jones.
The meeting was then handed over to the speaker, Gina Wright for her presentation on being ‘The Coastal Celebrant’
She stated that she worked mainly along the coast of the East Riding, from Bridlington up to Scarborough. As an Independent Celebrant, she was not related to any religion, nor was she a ‘humanist’.She was able to conduct & celebrate various types of ceremonies and celebrations.
She gave some background to the ‘celebrant’ movement, stating that it began in 1977 in Australia, by a man named Lionel Murphy. It was a very diverse population there, with 60% having no one or no organisation to represent them. In 1990, Lisa D’Arcy formed the first group of celebrants in Britain, where 37% of the population, at the time, had no religious affiliation.
The most common ceremonies are ‘Celebration of Life’ and Weddings (she stated that in 2022 the ‘wedding industry’ was worth £14.7 billion in the UK!), with others being: Baby/Child Naming; Vow Renewal; Civil Partnerships; Commitment; Hand Fasting; Family Unity; Divorce; ‘Flies the Nest’; Burials; Funerals; Memorials; Scattering of Ashes; Remembrance; Dedications; Pet Funerals.
It was an interesting talk, and quite enlightening at times, particularly the average cost of wedding today, and how ‘themed weddings’ are very popular; also how ‘themed’ funerals/celebration of life ceremonies are gaining in popularity! Chairman, GS thanked Gina for her presentation and asked members to show their appreciation with a round of applause.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 13th March. There will be a short presentation by Dom of Techy Tea (based in Nafferton), Concerning ‘all things Technical & IT related’ and specifically aimed at older people. Also included will be a short talk from selected members, introducing themselves to the Club.
On Wednesday 3rd April, the Probus Club will visit East Kirkby Airfield, and will include a guided tour around the Aviation Heritage Centre, and lunch in the NAAFI. Details are now available, and booking is required by 27th March.
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14th February, 2024
This meeting was different to our usual format, as we had the Special ‘Mishka’ Presentations. Chairman Gareth Shelton welcomed the presentation guests, after which Gerald Massey gave a brief explanation of how the draw came about - £372 was raised through the draw to find Mishka’s birthday, which was won by Sylvia Tearle, who had picked 12th December (her daughter’s birthday) and was presented with Mishka by Driffield Mayor, Cllr. Gill Helliwell. The grand total was increased with a few further donations, and a cheque for £419 was presented to Gill Ullyot and Lynn Morris from St. Catherine’s Hospice – Driffield Support Group, by past Chairman John Sharman (who thought there was a ‘bit of a Russian theme’ with Mishka and his talk about Living in Space & Helen Sharman). After the presentation, the Mayor and the two representatives of the St. Catherine’s Support Group had to leave due to other commitments, and the Probus Club meeting commenced.
The Chairman welcomed three remaining guests (Sylvia and John Tearle, and Deirdre Crane).
Matters arising from the Minutes of the last meeting (24th January):
A mention that the talk from our previous speaker – Chris Cade- had been very good and was well received. Gerald Massey stated that he had already booked Chris for another of his talks in which he portrays a ‘Wolds Wagoner’ – a (local) soldier from World War 1.
AOB: GS told members that he had finally been able to make a booking for the Probus Club Formal Anniversary Dinner; this will talk place in the evening of Thursday 17th October at Hotel 41 Middle Street North, Driffield. The cost of the meal is £25.00 pp for a 3-course meal, including tea/coffee afterwards, and also the hire of the room. (Further details will follow, in due course.)
The meeting was then handed over to John Sharman, who was to present his (much anticipated) talk on
‘Living in Space’.
He started by informing us that his talk was not just going to be about his daughter, Helen, although she had been the first Briton to go into space, albeit as a cosmonaut in the Russian Space programme. He continued by telling us how Helen became involved with the Russian Space Programme, and also that he had visited Russia on two occasions: once to ‘Star City’, a massive launch site, which the Russians hired from Kazakhstan; the second site was one which John had never been able to find on a map!
John told us about the many problems of living in space:- the dangers of space junk; living with weightlessness and the vigorous training the cosmonauts had to go through; all fluids have to be contained; that air has to be artificially circulated ; the very low temperatures; how the limited amount of water has to be continually recycled; the radiation from the Sun (10x that experienced on Earth). He explained some of the differences between NASA space flights and those of Russia. Helen was launched aboard Soyuz TM 12 on 18th May 1991, returning on 26th May 1991. John said that after landing and recovery of the space craft, the first Russian lady in space, Valentina Tesreshkova, had been there to present Helen with a bouquet of flowers. He also mentioned that following their selection to train in Russia, Helen and Major Tim Mace (the other Briton selected) had been presented to Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister at that time.
This was a very interesting and informative talk which John gave, and made that bit more personal as Helen Sharman is his daughter. After some questions for John, Chairman Gareth, thanked him for his talk, and asked all present to show their appreciation with a round of applause.
Our next meeting will take place on Weds. 28 February, with a talk from Gina Wright, on her varied work as
‘The Coastal Celebrant’.
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24th January 2024
Chairman, Gareth Shelton welcomed 31 members plus 2 guests – Shirley Jones and speaker Chris Cade, to the meeting. He asked for phones to be muted, and volunteers for washing up (Liz Smith & Denise Dunnington). There were birthday cards for: Pat Midgley, Janet Thornton, John Ford, Elaine Eldret, Charles Stephenson and Jan Holman. GS thanked all those who stood in for Committee members absent from the last meeting.
Correspondence
None had been received.
Minutes of previous meeting (10th Jan.)
GM gave an update on the draw for Mishka’s birthday – 12th December chosen by Sylvia Tearle, who has been invited to the presentation at the next meeting. GM had also had two other donated items – a George Kettle and a Falcon de Luxe jigsaw puzzle – and after advertising these to members, had received offers of £20 and £10 respectively. Therefore, the total raised for St. Catherine’s Hospice stands at £402.00.
Other matters arising
GM mentioned that Archery forms had been sent out.
New members
There were two new members today – David & June Dunk, plus Richard Hornsey (from the previous meeting) received an official welcome from all members. The proposer was Ray Jones, with David Woolley and Denise Massey being seconders; there was a good show of hands from all present accepting the applications, and so David & June Dunk were welcomed, also, as new members. GM noted that two years previously there had been only 10 male members in the Driffield Probus Club. However, since the decision was made to open up membership to all, the numbers had grown substantially, and today the Club had reached 51 members!
AOB: nothing except an amendment to the winners of Malcolm Craggs’ quiz last meeting – they were Hazel Grant, John Ford & Richard Hornsey.
The Chairman then handed over the meeting to speaker, Chris Cade to present his talk about
‘George Hudson: Railway King’, which was given in character.
It was a very interesting and informative talk, made even more so as it was ‘George Hudson’ himself telling us about his life:-
He was born in East Yorkshire in 1800, and came from very humble beginnings; made his way to York after scandal found him disowned by his family, where he found employment in a draper’s shop; he married the boss’s daughter, became a partner in the business and gradually made his way ‘up the ladder’ moving in increasing higher circles; he was introduced to George Stephenson, with whom he had a long-standing business relationship, and was influential in bringing very many train routes into York; he became a Member of Parliament, and his increasing wealth meant he was able to buy many substantial properties including the Londesborough Estate, as well as property in London; unfortunately, he over-stretched his finances, and fled to France upon bankruptcy; he returned some years later, although he was then arrested and jailed, but was eventually released through unknown contacts and lived the rest of his life in London until his death in 1871.
Chris received a well-deserved round of applause at the end, with a vote of thanks given by Gareth Shelton, Chairman, who said that he had heard of George Hudson through his work in engineering, and found this talk to be really interesting, giving form to the character he had often heard about!
The next meeting of the Probus Club will take place on Wednesday 14th February when the Mayor, Cllr. Gill Helliwell, will present Mishka the Bear to the winner of the ‘Guess Mishka’s Birthday’ draw, as well as the presentation of the cheque for money raised to St. Catherine’s Hospice.
At the same meeting, Past Chairman John Sharmen will present his talk on the exploits of his daughter, Helen Sharman, who was the first British astronaut.
On Wednesday 7th February Probus members will meet at 5pm for a fish and chip supper at Stuart’s in Driffield, followed by a second visit to The Black Ridge Archery Range in Skerne Road, Driffield.
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10th January 2024
Chairman’s welcome: David Woolley, standing in for Gareth Shelton, welcomed 23 members.
Correspondence:
Barbara Hall thanked Gerald for the trip to Hull City Hall and for the Christmas party;
Liz Smith had sent a letter thanking all members for the kind messages of condolence, and for attending the service at the Crematorium.
Minutes of the last meeting (November 22nd): these were taken as being OK, with no matters arising.
New members: Richard Hornsey was welcomed by those present as a new member.
Mishka Draw: this fund-raising event by the Club has raised £372.00 for St. Catherine’s Hospice. The winning date drawn for Mishka’s birthday was 12th December.
(It is proposed that the cheque will be handed to a member of the St. Catherine’s Driffield Support Group at the meeting on Wednesday 14th February, when it is also hoped that the Mayor, Gill Helliwell will present Mishka to the winner of the date drawn; the photographer from the Wolds Weekly will also be booked to take a photo.)
The meeting was then handed over to Malcolm Craggs for him to present his Annual World-famous Quiz
This was won by Hazel, John (?) and Richard Hornsey.
After the quiz, there was time for a number of short discussions on the following topics:
The Post Office; the Covid Inquiry; Curry’s Warranty deal; The Junior Doctors’ strike; Absent School days.
At the next Probus meeting on Wednesday 24th January, Chris Cade will give his presentation on ‘George Hudson, the Railway King’.
Previous reports from 2020-2023 are archived and available on request.