| Date | Speaker | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan-9 | Gary Conley | My life at the Manor Colliery – Mining Memories | |
| Gary Conley gave us a personal insight into his experiences as an apprentice and miner at Sutton Manor Colliery in St Helens in the 1970s and 1980s. At one time St Helens had 80 collieries where there was a strong family tradition of working at the mine despite the conditions. Gary’s explanations, spiced with humorous anecdotes about the tally, ‘snap’, working conditions, clothes and canaries, provided a very entertaining talk from someone who was instrumental in the creation of "Dream", a 20 metre high sculpture located on the former site of the colliery. | |||
| Feb-13 | Stuart Wood and Chris Ellams | The Restoration of The Danny, "The Tug that Survived to Sail Again" | |
| Stuart Wood and Chris Ellams gave a detailed history of the steam tugboat now named Daniel Adamson (often moored at Sutton Weaver by the swing bridge). She was built in 1910 for work exclusively on the Manchester Ship Canal hauling barges, ships and passengers, from Ellesmere port to Salford. After container ships became too large for the canal, she was eventually rescued from being scrapped in 2004, bought for £1, and has undergone a £5 million restoration by many dedicated volunteers. She has national significance as the sole remaining steam tugboat and is in the National Historic Ships register, being used for many educational and leisure purposes. | |||
| Mar-13 | Jayne Stubbs | Learning to Fly | |
| Jayne Stubbs gave a personal account of how she took up ‘Learning to Fly’. She began with her first introduction to an aircraft at an airshow and went through all the stages of accreditation, eventually being awarded a private pilot’s licence. She also mentioned her charity which enables highly disabled people to experience flying. | |||
| Apr-10 | Brian Price | The Construction of the QE2, the ‘Pride of the Clyde’. | |
| Brian Price was Cruise Director of the QE2 for several years and was responsible for all aspects of passenger welfare and entertainment. He gave a detailed account, showing some unique photos, of the ship’s construction at John Brown on Clydeside before its launch by Queen Elizabeth II in 1967. Amongst many details were an explanation of the bulbous bow and how it was filled with lager for the crew! He also showed the four large stabilisers and explained how they worked. There were several anecdotes including an account of how the ship rode (and survived) the largest ever recorded wave (98 feet) in an Atlantic hurricane. Packed with detail, this was a fascinating insight into a great ship. | |||
| May-08 | Julian Bond | Aviation in the Cold War | |
| Julian Bond gave a personal snapshot of his career as a Fleet Air Arm pilot in the 1960s and 70s. After starting training in a Tiger Moth he eventually graduated to a Buccaneer capable of delivering tactical and nuclear bombs. He described with video sequences the challenges of taking off from and landing on aircraft carriers especially Ark Royal, and the ‘view from the cockpit’. His fascinating talk concluded by reminding us of the danger and fearsomely high rate of mortality sustained by aircrew in those days as they helped preserve the balance of peace, particularly remembered on this VE day. | |||
| Jun-12 | John Hammond | Generative Artificial Intelligence - a brief outline | |
| This presentation offered a comprehensive overview of artificial intelligence (AI), focusing on generative AI, machine learning, deep learning, and large language models (LLMs). It outlined AI’s rapid growth in the UK, major applications across industries, and technological milestones from 1956 to 2025. Key platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot were examined, along with uses in predictive analytics, facial recognition, and image generation. Ethical concerns like hallucinations, data scraping, and deepfakes were highlighted. The presentation also showcased creative uses of AI for writing and image editing, concluding that AI capabilities are evolving so rapidly that information can become outdated almost instantly. This summary was ChatGPT's response to the request 'Please produce a summary of this presentation in 100 to 120 words'. | |||
| Jul-10 | John Eldridge | My career as an Engineer | |
| John Eldridge gave a detailed account of his career “Trying to Get it Right” - spent mostly in the nuclear industry as an engineer. His overall theme was one of encouragement for younger people to consider engineering as a career; only 20% of applicants to University of Liverpool’s engineering are female. Born the son of a farm tractor driver, failing his 11+, he was eventually the first person, having done an apprenticeship instead of going to University, to be elected to fellowship of the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering. His career started with GEC but he finished as a senior engineer in the UK Atomic Energy Authority. There he was used several times as a trouble-shooter for projects in difficulty. Scattered in his wide-ranging talk were many pearls of wisdom he had learnt on his journey, which embraced 56 years of continuous employment. | |||
| Aug-14 | David Hearn | Battle of the Atlantic | |
| David Hearn captivated club members with his account of the Battle of the Atlantic. His main theme was that eventual victory was as much due to huge numbers of civilians as to the armed forces. The naval strategy was not only to defend the convoys but also to attack the hunting U boat packs. The battle was effectively won when more American Liberty ships were being built than allied ships were being sunk. Almost all the fuel for the RAF, food, armaments, had to be shipped across the Atlantic, mostly to Liverpool. Everything, for example, for the American D Day landings on Omaha beach, from tanks to rail locomotives, to the whole supply system for an invading army, had to be shipped across. The role of civilians from dockers to ship builders to firemen to rescue workers was essential to the continued operation of the war effort; and most of all the Merchant Navy which lost nearly as many lives (>35 thousand) as the Royal Navy. | |||
| Sept-11 | Mark Relf | War Graves | |
| Oct-9 | Phil Pearson | A Cheesy Tale at Durham Gaol! | |
| Former chairman Philip Pearson gave us a potted history of Durham city, from its inception as a naturally fortifiable position surrounded on three sides by the river Wear. He explained the major influences of St Cuthbert and later of William the Conqueror, of the links with Lindisfarne (Holy Island), of the significance of cathedral and castle and of the origin of Durham gaol. He then regaled us with several entertaining anecdotes from his time in the gaol (as an administrator!) culminating in his own involvement in a mistakenly huge order of cheese. | |||
| Nov-13 | Matthew Grant | Educational Change | |
| Probus member Matthew Grant, at short notice, gave us an entertaining, instructive and thought-provoking talk on the educational changes he has witnessed in his varied career spanning 40 years from 1979. He recounted humorous learning as a green young teacher at secondary school through to more strategic observations whilst in charge of admissions at Priestley College, Warrington. He also shared his really interesting thoughts on the major changes in education which have been government led, on the importance of vocational training and its educational precursors, and his personal views on the key changes he would make if he were education minister. | |||
| Dec-11 | Chris Penter | The History of the British Musical | |
| Performer, director and writer Chris Penter served up a real treat for members and guests at our Christmas lunch taking us through a very entertaining whistlestop tour of 250 years of the history of British Musicals. Starting with John Gray’s The Beggars Opera of 1728. Chris peppered his talk with snippets from some of the best loved British Musicals. They included Gilbert and Sullivan Victorian Operettas, Lional Bart’s Oliver and of course Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Super Star. The talk also included interesting insights into the industry and concluded with praise for current hits such as Six The Musical and Matilda and confirmation that Britain continues to keep pace with the USA in the production top musicals. | |||
Lunches are held at Willington Hall and commence at 12.45 following any Club business which is discussed between 12.30 and 12.45. We aim to finish the meeting at 15:00.