Event Reports
24th June 2026
Chairman’s Welcome: David Woolley welcomed 32 Members plus 1 guest (May Alexander, who joined the Club on the Yorkshire Belle trip.), as well as speaker Paul Schofield to the meeting.
Sick Members: Ron Thompson (Ron & his wife Kate are hoping to come to the Afternoon Tea at Clickham Grange.)
Correspondence:
A reminder from Peter Grant about the Open Garden with refreshments at Driffield Methodist Church on 4th July, at £5.00 pp.
From Sarah Ryalls, information about ‘courier fraud’ which is rife at the moment and is targeting the over 70s. If you receive a strange telephone call, or do not recognise/understand what you are being told – HANG UP straight away, and contact the police for advice.
Minutes from last meeting 10th June: received by Members and accepted as a true record of the Meeting, with no matters arising.
With the business completed, David Woolley handed over to Paul Schofield to present his illustrated talk on
‘The History of Beverley’.
Paul told Members that he gives guided tours around Hull and also Beverley, which include interesting points of local interest. [tourhull.com or just search ‘tours of Hull and Beverley’ through your browser]. There was a lot of information in Paul’s talk; here are just a few highlights:-
Saint John of Beverley – was Bishop of York between 705 to 718 AD. He was born in Harpham and died in Beverley in 721 AD; his fame brought many pilgrims to Beverley.
Beverley had been the 10th most populous town in England during the 16th century; it suffered badly during the Civil War because of skirmishes between the Royalists and Roundheads, however, it later flourished again, then prospered more during the Georgian period.
Beverley Minster – is not a cathedral because the town is not ‘the seat of a bishop’, so it is just a VERY GRAND parish church! [There is a very interesting ‘Roof Tour’ available at the Minster.]
A ‘blue Beverley plaque’ on one property commemorates the life of Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) who was a writer and philosopher, and first advocate of Women’s Rights; she was also the mother of Mary Shelley. There are a number of other plaques throughout the town.
David thanked Paul, saying it was a very and enlightening talk, from which he had learned a lot more about Beverley; Members gave a round of applause to show their appreciation.
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10th June 2026
Chairman’s Welcome: David Woolley welcomed 27 Members to the meeting. David mentioned he had received an email from Liz Smith, who was reluctantly resigning from the Probus Committee due to the pressure of a number of things happening in her life at present. (She had been co-opted onto the Committee a couple of years ago, initially to assist Tina Shelton with the Minutes and otherwise generally, but was given a more permanent position to assist Gerald after Denise became ill.)
Minutes from last meeting 27th May: accepted as a true record with no matters arising.
Any other business:
The Afternoon Tea at Clickham Grange/Carol Skelton, has been booked for Wednesday 15th July; information will be sent out very shortly.
Gareth Shelton mentioned the Saint Catherine’s Hospice ‘Cake & Coffee Morning’, organised by the Driffield Support Group, and which took place the day before. It had been announced that they had been able to give £30,000+ to the Hospice, which meant that 2 more Cuddle Beds had been ordered, and delivered. They also mentioned that in total, they had been able to raise over £60,000 for Saint Catherine’s Hospice, and thanked the people of Driffield for their generosity in supporting events.
Gerald told Members that he had received an email from Susan Marsahll, with a copy of the recent newsletter from the Nepalese Education Fund (the charity she founded). He had also received a few photos from Susan, showing Rainsu, the Nepalese schoolgirl who Probus sponsor. As he and Tina now have a number of photos and a few video clips, they said that these would be put onto a USB stick to be shown at a future meeting.
Stuart Nelson mentioned the theatre visits which Gerald had been organising, and how good they all were. He also told Members of an upcoming show, ‘Operation Mincemeat’, a story about a ploy used during the Second World War to put off the Germans from discovering where the Allied Invasion would be staged. Tina also mentioned a show in November, in which Prof. Alice Roberts will tell the story of evolution, entitled ‘Cell to Civilisation’. Gerald asked for anyone interested in attending either of these to contact soonest.
There was a lot of discussion about various items, from the Members, and as a result there was not enough time for the scheduled ‘Speed Chatting’ session to take place; this was postponed for future inclusion in another meeting at some point. To fill the remaining time, Gerald gave out one of his quizzes to Members to complete, where all answers were parts of the body.
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27th May 2026
Chairman’s Welcome: John Ford (standing in for David Woolley) welcomed everyone to the meeting, including Speaker Richard Myerscough and his wife, Marion.
Correspondence: Gerald Massey had received a letter from Marion Gamble thanking Probus for her invitation and for the generous donation, which would go to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance; she said £164.60 had been raised. GM has also invited her back next year to give another talk, which she has accepted.
Minutes from last meeting 13th May: these were accepted as a true record of the meeting.
Matters arising: GM mentioned that ‘Probus has more Talent’ went well, and was enjoyed by those present.
Any other business:
GM had received a poster from the Driffield Support Group advertising a ‘Coffee & Cake’ morning to raise funds for Saint Catherine’s Hospice, and asked for names of those who may be interested.
There has been a suggestion from Stuart Nelson to produce a ‘Probus Calendar’ for 2027. The Committee had requested further information from Stuart, which has since been received [a minimum print run would be 500 copies at ~ £300.] David Holman said that in his experience calendars can be ‘difficult’ to sell on because of their being ‘time related’; however, he has found that Christmas cards can be more popular, as they are not time-related. John Ford suggested this be taken back to the Committee for further discussion.
With the business meeting finished, John Ford handed the meeting over to
Richard Myerscough for his talk entitled ‘A FEAST at Flamborough’.
Richard apologised for he and his wife appearing ‘scruffy’, adding that after the meeting they would be travelling to Skipsea to take part in archaeological work in conjunction with the University of York. He explained that FEAST meant Flamborough Exploration and Survey Team, adding that all sorts of mediums were covered, i.e. excavations, fieldwork, surveys, art & music. Anyone interested was welcome to take part – academic qualifications in these areas were not needed, rather just an interest.
He went on to talk about all sorts of things that have been discovered throughout FEAST’s work, stating that their final aim was to produce a book about Flamborough which covered EVERYTHING about the area historically, including folklore. [He also mentioned an App that can be downloaded to phones called ‘What Was There?’ When this is opened and you walk around an area, it tells you what was there from ~1900 onwards!]
John Ford thanked Richard, saying “it was a fascinating talk” and how interesting to learn about the history relating to landscape and the relevance to the Climate Change of present times! Members showed their appreciation with a round of applause.
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13th May 2026
Chairman’s Welcome: David Woolley welcomed 37 Members to the meeting.
Correspondence:
Gerald Massey had received a letter from a previous Member, David Wellington, who sent in 3 Probus ties, which he found whilst clearing out his home [the Committee will make a decision as to what should be done with them at their next meeting].
John Sharman had sent an email stating he was pleased the ERYC shield, presented to the Probus Club in late 1990s, would be put to good use. [GM has already sent out an email to Members giving the criteria for the presentation award; nominations can be sent/given to GM in a sealed envelope, please.]
GM received a letter from Driffield Support Group (for Saint Catherine’s Hospice) thanking Probus for their donation; a letter has also been received from Saint Catherine’s Hospice thanking the Club for the generous donation of the proceeds from the ‘Concert for Denise’.
Minutes from last meeting 22nd April: accepted by Members as an accurate record of the Meeting.
Matters arising: The recent trip to Hull New Theatre for a performance of ‘Fawlty Towers’ was very good and the cast members were also good!
Any other business:
Yorkshire Belle Trip: GM has received lots of booking forms so far (50 from Probus Members) and he will now open up the trip to those outside of the Club.
Walking Treasure Hunt with a Fish & Chip Supper: there has been quite a few bookings for this so far; GM reminded Members that the timings have been brought forward an hour due to a clash of bookings at Stuart’s Restaurant [meet outside of Library 1.30pm to start Treasure Hunt at 2.00pm; meet outside Stuart’s Restaurant prior to 4.00pm.
With the formalities out of the way, David Woolley introduced
‘Probus has got more Talent’ with a number of Members volunteering to ‘show off their talent’ to the Club.
Peter Hyde: had a comical poem from the ‘war years’, which was read in his absence by Gerald Massey.
Val Fairhurst: performed a ventriloquist act with her dummy ‘Lucy’ and sang 3 songs as part of it.
Ray Jones & Peter Grant: performed a comedy sketch as ‘two old chaps having a morning chat on a bench in town’.
Stuart Nelson: sang a song called ‘The Parting Glass’ with some audience participation for the final chorus.
Liz Smith: Read three poems – ‘The Pig’, a fishing poem and also one by Pam Ayres.
Gerald Massey: told some ‘amusing tales’ about Probus Members, plus his personal experience of a tale about ‘a Cat, a Pigeon and a Budgie’.
Members enjoyed all these amusing acts, showing their appreciation for each with a round of applause; David Woolley thanked everyone that had participated in the day’s events.
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22nd April 2026
Chairman’s Welcome: David Woolley welcomed 28 Members, plus Speaker Marion Gamble to the meeting.
Minutes from last meeting 8th April: Accepted as an accurate record by those present.
Matters arising: David Woolley mentioned Gerald’s ‘Influencer’ talk from the last meeting, in which he recalled an incident at a dance some years previously; a gentleman had collapsed, whilst dancing, and luckily, a lady intervened to give CPR. Gerald had learned, only recently, that the lady in question was our Member, Sue Hyde! David said “there are a lot of ‘good people’ out there, not just locally but in the wider area, and these people give us hope!”
Any other business:
Cannon Hall Farm: GM mentioned that this trip, the previous Wednesday, had turned out to be a ‘really good day’, with nice weather, too!
Upcoming theatre trips: GM asked if anyone was interested in seeing ‘Barnum’ on 2nd June at Hull New Theatre. Also the play by John Godber at East Riding Theatre, Beverley on 30th June.
Marie Strath had been a mannequin, standing in Alec Hall’s shop window, and raising money for charity; she also mentioned that this had raised £210 which she intended to donate toward the present Cuddle Bed Appeal for Saint Catherine’s Hospice.
With the business completed, David Woolley handed over to Marion Gamble for her Antique and Vintage Quiz.
She had brought along a number of somewhat obscure looking items, for everyone to examine and guess the name of the item and what it may have been used for! There were 28 different items, and Members had an interesting time guessing what they were, with some being slightly more obvious that others. However, many of them brought back memories of long ago! Sarah Ryalls and Val Fairhurst managed to correctly guess the name and use for 17 of the items – well done to them!
David thanked Marion for a very interesting, and entertaining quiz. A cheque for £100 was presented to her, which will be donated to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
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8th April 2026
Chairman’s Welcome: David Woolley welcomed 39 Members plus 1 Guest (his wife Mary Woolley) to the meeting, thanking everyone for attending “on this lovely morning!”
Sick Members: Ron Thompson.
Correspondence:
Chris Renn (speaker from our last meeting) had sent a message to Gerald thanking the Club for the warm welcome shown to him and for the donation which had been gratefully received by the Wolds Hedgehog Group.
GM had received an email from The Nepal Education Fund requesting the education fee of £100 for Rainsu Gurang (the Club’s sponsored Nepalese schoolgirl). [Tina Shelton also mentioned the conversation she had had with Susan Marshall about sending items out to Rainsu; whilst they would be gratefully accepted, the school would prefer things that could be shared amongst the class, e.g. colouring pencils, pens, small reading books – 6-7 yrs, colouring books, etc. She also said that families do not tend to celebrate birthdays because of the poverty within families.]
There was a final mention from GM about Denise’s concert: the Driffield Support Group had sent their thanks for all the donated Raffle/Tombola prizes. There was a total of £4175.50 raised from the concert for which the DSG were so very appreciative. [GM thanked everyone for their support, and has decided to start raising funds for another Cuddle Bed. Stuart Nelson plans to do another long-distance walk later in the year and will donate any money raised. GM said he doesn’t want Probus to be specifically involved raising funds, but should any Members wish to help, he will offer his support. However, when this bed is eventually delivered to the Hospice, he wants it to be designated as “Donated by Driffield Probus Club in Memory of Denise Massey”.]
Minutes from last meeting 25th March: accepted as a true record.
New Members: Mary Woolley was welcomed as a New Member for the Probus Club.
Any other business:
Ray Jones encouraged everyone to offer their support to Stuart with his next endeavour (walking the Japan Buddhist Trail – the World’s oldest long distance walk) , as he had helped Ray in getting home from Manchester Airport recently.
The coach had been paid for, for the visit to Cannon Hall Farm; Pam Woodcock had given permission for Members to park cars in the Rec. Club car park.
Marie Strath was going to do a sponsored ‘Shop Mannikin session’ in the window of outfitters Alec Hall, and had brought in her form for anyone who wished to sponsor her.
With the business meeting finished, David announced that a number of volunteers would be giving a short talk about someone who had influenced their life:- we heard from Gerald Massey, Mike Roberts, Ron Stark, Stuart Nelson, David Woolley and David Holman. Time had run out, and we had not been able to get through all the volunteers, so GM suggested putting this subject on to next year’s agenda. DW thanked everyone who had participated, saying “we get to know each other a little better though things like this!”
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25th March 2026
Chairman’s Welcome: David Woolley welcomed 37 Members plus Speaker Chris Renn to the meeting.
Sick Members: Ron Thompson.
Minutes of last Meeting 11th March: Received by Members, agreed as an accurate record of the meeting, with no matters arising.
Any other business: Gerald Massey mentioned that there were still places on the Cannon Hall Farm trip, please contact him if interested. Tina Shelton spoke to Members about proposals for the Annual Dinner to take place in October. She had information from 4 possible venues: The Trout, The Masonic Hall, Driffield, The Rugby Club and The North Star, Flamborough. After a discussion, The North Star, Flamborough was chosen on a show of hands, with Thursday 22nd October being the date offered for the lunch to take place. Further information will be provided in due course.
With the business meeting completed, David Woolley handed over to Chris Renn to give his presentation on ‘The Russian Outrage’.
- Chris told Members he had become interested after seeing pictures of trawlers being attacked by Russian ships, and the funerals which followed, in some ‘Postcards from Hull’ from 1904.
- Research led him to discover information about ‘The Dogger Bank Incident’ when the Russian Baltic Fleet were ordered to sail 18,000 miles to engage the Japanese in Korea, but due to a lack of preparation, unsuitability of vessels and inadequacy of sailors/crews it was doomed to failure.
- Incorrect reports of Japanese naval vessels in the North Sea also added to the problem, so that when the Russian Fleet encountered a British fishing fleet (including 50 trawlers for the Hull-based Gamecock Fishing Fleet) pandemonium occurred resulting in the deaths of British fishermen.
- A serious diplomatic incident resulted between Britain & Russia; Royal Navy vessels prepared for war, whilst certain ships shadowed the Russian Fleet enroute to Korea.
- An International Commission set up to investigate found there ‘should be no repercussions towards the Russian Admiral or his crews’, with the Russian Navy having to award £66,000 compensation to the British crews affected.
- A memorial statue was later erected to some of those who had died, its location being the junction of Hessle Road (where many of the fishing crews had lived) and The Boulevard.
David Woolley thanked Chris for a ‘very interesting and enlightening’ presentation, which neither he nor many Members had ever heard of previously; all found it interesting and gave a round of applause. [The Club will make a donation to Chris for The Wolds Hedgehog Rescue Centre.]
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11th March 2026
Chairman’s Welcome: David Woolley welcomed 35 Members to the meeting, as well as Guest Speaker Harry Houldsworth and wife Brenda (both former Members).
Sick Members: Ron Thompson.
Minutes of last Meeting 26th February: received and accepted as an accurate record of the meeting.
Matters arising: Gerald mentioned the write-up about Rainsu, the Nepalese schoolgirl that the Club sponsors; he also told Members that The Driffield Post will be running an article about Rainsu and our sponsorship of her.
Any other business:
GM told Members that the coach for the visit to Cannon Hall Farm was now half full, and that it was the last day for priority bookings for Probus Members.
Arrangements for ‘The Concert for Denise’ were going well and almost all of the 100 tickets available had been sold.
DW handed the meeting over to Harry Houldsworth for his talk ‘Writing for Pleasure’.
- Harry explained to Members that his talk would cover the following topics: including Hobbies, Creative Writing, Book cover design, Publishing a book, Websites & Selling books.
- Being an amateur didn’t mean your work isn’t of a ‘good standard’; rather it’s just that you don’t do it to receive a wage!
- Many sources can be used to help start writing – Writing a diary, letters to local newspapers, articles in professional journals.
- Harry noted some of his books:
‘Audition to Die’ (late 1990s).
‘Holy Huddles’ (C.2000) [written & published through Kindle Direct Writing, sold by Amazon].
‘The Driffield Town Trail’ (2020) [this was a project done in conjunction with Driffield U3A during the Covid lockdowns.]
He is happy to received enquiries about his books by email: houldken@gmail.com, or they can be found on his website: harryhouldsworthbooks.co.uk.
After a number of questions for Harry, DW thanked him for a very interesting and informative talk, and asked Members to show their appreciation in the usual way.
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25th February 2026
Chairman’s Welcome: David Woolley welcomed everyone to the meeting which comprised a total of 34 members and one guest - Richard Neale
David then invited John Ford to present Peter Grant with an Honorary Life Membership Certificate. Peter thanked everyone and said Probus was originally a ‘men only’ club and, when attending a meeting, the members had all worn suits and an official Probus tie. When he took over as Chairman the membership was almost down to single figures and it was agreed they would allow ladies to join. This decision has turned the Club around and has made Probus into the great success it has become today.
Sick members: Ron Thompson.
Minutes of the last meeting – 11thh February: Agreed as a true record with no matters arising.
Any Other Business:
- Tina said she had put a copy of the menu for the White Bull Restaurant at Cannon Hall Farm on the table for members to look at.
- Tina also explained why there were photographs of a young Nepalese girl called Rainsu on display. Susan Marshall, a friend of Mike and Marjorie Battams, came to Probus last year and gave a talk about a trip that she and her daughter had taken to Nepal in 2001. They had been moved by the degree of poverty they saw and decided to set up the Nepal Education Fund charity.
- Mike said he and Marjorie had previously sponsored 2 girls through school and college and were currently sponsoring another girl and a boy. He said that following college the youngsters often leave Nepal to go abroad where they find jobs and send money home to help their families
- Finally, Tina had a message to pass on from Gerald who wanted to send his thanks to anyone who had given tombola or raffle prizes towards Denise’s concert. Marjorie will gratefully accept any further donations until the concert takes place.
David Woolley then handed over to Julian Morgan whose talk, ‘Cryptingo’, was on a subject guaranteed to get our grey matter working.
Before starting his presentation Julian asked if everyone had been given a sheet of paper containing 16 words set out in a grid pattern. He then told us a little bit about himself.
- He teaches Latin and asked if any of the Probus members would like some lessons? He said “you are never too old to learn” and had taught one lady who was 79 years old.
- He told us that there was a Latin word ‘Probus’ which, when translated, means ‘A jolly good chap’.
- He has written up to 18 puzzle books.
- He has written Quick Cryptic Crossword Puzzles for The Times newspaper.
He then explained that the word ‘Cryptingo’ stood for ‘Cryptic Bingo’ except that the answers on the bingo sheet were words instead of numbers. The members then proceeded to play the game of ‘Cryptingo’ by crossing off the word on their bingo sheet if it was the answer to the cryptic question asked by the speaker. Three members were given a prize by the speaker for achieving the right answers to some very difficult clues.
David thanked Julian for coming along to our meeting and explaining how cryptic crosswords work.
Everyone agreed that the game of ‘Cryptingo’ had been a real brain-teaser and gave a round of applause to show their appreciation.
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