Hinchley Wood and The Dittons Probus
The club for retired professional and business men
There is a picture in the carousel below to remind you of each of our past talks.
Past talks 2024 programme
January 9th - Festive lunch with Majestic wines
February 20th - David Lowdellon 'Richartd Wagner'
March 19th Julian McCarthy– ‘History of Kingston’
April 16th - Stephan Roman - 'The Romanov Tsars 1613 - 1918'
May 21st Tim Craig – ‘Great English Cathedrals
June 18th Sandy Ewing – ‘The story of Kneller Hall0’
July 16th Andre Potocki – ‘Roald Dahl’. The Mayor of Elmbridge attended this meeting.
August 20th Stephen Chater – ‘The 18th century Gin Craze’ followed by our AGM
September 17th - Pete Allen – ‘A Dramatic History of London’s Theatres
October 19th - Chris Merrington - 'The Galapagos Islands'
November - Richard Brewster - Balancing Love & Legacy
December - David Lowdell - Juke-Box Cornucopia of the 60's
Past talks 2023 programme
January 17th Festive Luncheon, with a Majestic Wines talk.
February 21st Helen Fry - ‘A very Secret War’ British intelligence WW2
March 21st Ray Pennock - St John Ambulance history with defibrillator & CPR.
April 18th Simon Eyles - 'Scams'
May 16th Elaine Hallam - Her life as an actor and jazz singer.
20th June Tim Craig - Good Connections - the story of electricity
18th July Andrew Hughes - Flying, for the over 50s
15th August Annual General Meeting, followed by Stephen Chater - The Great Fire of London.
19th September Tom Hastings - Heaqrt health and care screening
17th October - Tim Redmond - ‘Big Ben and the restoration’
21st November David Bickerton - ‘My parents wartime experiences
becember 19th Roger Barton - ‘Medical aid to Ukraine’
Past talks 2022 progr0amme
18 January - Andy from Majestic Wine Esher. Unfortunately, this meeting was cancelled due to covid so Andy will give his talk at a later date.
February 15th - David Glennon (member): Folk music, 1955 to 1965
March 15th - Alison Kirvin OBE: Novelist, Journalist. Edited the Rugby World magazine and was Chief Sportswriter for the Times.
April 19th - Doug Eaton: Quirky Inventions.
May 17 Dr Lawrence Shafe - “Hogarth’s World”
June 21st. Jim Kemp: Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Great Western Railway
July 19th meeting was cancelled due to speaker called to emergency
August 16 Steve Bird : “How the English Civil War started”
September 20 Dr Jay Woogara: British Indian Indentured Labourers
October 18 Callum Russell is blind and he runs an advisory company for people with sight impairment. He is fluent in French, Spanish and Italian and has taught music in a school in Peru.
November 15 Pete Allen - The making of Frank Capra’s film ‘It’s a Wonderful Life
December 20 Our member David Lowdell gave an excellent talk on An insight into the life and music of Beethovern. Thanks also to Tim Craig for his input.
Past talks 2021 programme
19th January - Malcolm Nelson - "why do I always feel guilty?”, an insight into how customs officers select passengers who they think might be carrying drugs.
16 February – Stephen Chater - The London Charterhouse.
16 March – Major General Julian Thompson - D-Day Airborne Operations
20 April – Bill McNaught - ‘Fireworks, Guns and Superguns’.
18 May – Sarah Squire, Chairman of Squire’s Garden Centres. She talked about the history of this local business founded in 1935 and the establishing of the garden centre concept in 1964 in Twickenham, building now to 16 centres.
25th June - Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary's visit - 'Affairs of State' and 'A great conversation witrh our members' - also see Past Events.
20th July - Namibia - an overview of this stunning country - David Nielson (member)
17th August - AGM followed by: Morris Ital to Lambourghini Aventador - a petrolhead's journey - Simon DeMille (member)
21st September - How the West was Shot – Hollywood and the Wild West - Peter Allen
19th October - The story of the French Foreign Legion - David Williams
16th November - COP26, Environment and Plastics - Lucy Siegle
Past talks 2020 programme
11th February – Rob Knight (member) - Mega projects - How they go wrong.
18th August - Reunionn - Outdoor social gathering at Imber Court
17th September - On-line - David Skillen - The Bentley Boys
20th October - On-line - Tim Craig - Cyber Warfare
17th November – On-line - The Tea Trade. A unique insight into this important aspect of British history – Dananjaya Silva
Dec 15 – On-line - Bat Boats to Red Arrows. A history of aviation activity in the local area – David Hassard
Past talks 2019 programme
15th January - Colin Brown RNLI: Innovation and the future
19th February - Stephen Chater - Ten facts they don't want you to know about the Suffragettes
19th March - Pete Allen - A history of British Police dramas
16th April - Michael Grimshaw - Wild life of Zimbabwe
21st May - Peter Thompson QC - A miscarriage of justice
18th June - Hugh Thomas -Diplomat - Kazakhstan
16th July - Gail McKensie - Voluntary Support Services Manager, Elmbridge Borough Council - How community Support services benefit the local community
20th August - Richard Tracey - Around and about in politics - Richard was MP for Surbiton from 1983 to 1997, Minister for sport 1985 to 1987, and member of the London Assembly 2008 ton2016
17th September - Ian Whittle - Sit back, relax, and have a good fright Aviation
15th October - Gavin Bacon - Thames Ditton Gin, and how it came to the market
19th November - John Spencer - AC Cars around Thames Ditton
17th December - Alan Doig, Ambassador - Great Ormond Street Hospital
2018 Programme
4th January - Ladies Luncheon.
20th February - Paul Thompson - Member - Private Legislation from Henry VIII to HS2'.
20th March - Julian McKenney - Police - Terrorism and Security.
17th April - Club Open Day - Chairman.
29th May - Dominic Raab - Local MP.
19th June - Brian Scovell - Sports journalist - Famous People I have worked with
24th June - Summer Garden Party.
17th July - Monica Weller - Author - 'Injured Parties'.
21st August - Stephen Chater - The Development of City Livery Companies and their role in the Modern World
18th September - Pete Allen - To Journeys End: the life of R.C.Sherriff
16th October - Tim Flesher - My experience of being Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher
20th November - Rosemarie Swinfield - Shakespeare's World - A look at the atmosphere, social structure and mobility in which he grew up and worked
18th December - Richard Griffin, who was The Royal Protection Officer to the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.
2017 Programme
17th January - Club 'Christmas' lunch - followed by the "Cheese Personality of the Year" John Pearson (with samples).
21st February - Jennifer James - Cliveden and the Astors
21st March - Rob Knight (HW&TD Probus) - Disasters.
18th April - Michael Rodd - Living with Tomorrow's World.
16th May - Philip Johnson - Henry Tudor.
20th June - Colin Brown - The RNLI - it's not all at sea.