Retford Men’s Probus Club 09/10/2024
When Retford Men’s Probus club held their first meeting of the new season at Hallcroft Community Centre on Friday 6th September 22 members were present. This was considered a reasonable turnout for the first meeting, with apologies received for others unable to attend due to prior appointments, e.g. hospitals, doctors, plus seasonal illnesses also playing a big part in attendance ratings. President Roy Evans was on hand to give a warm welcome to members present and commenced to give out the official notices and added a quick reference to the programme of forthcoming events designed with the membership in mind. An interesting and varied list of topics and speakers lined up with something to suit most tastes within the group. With a quick change of hats, President Roy quickly became today’s speaker, and commenced to address the gathering on the subject of “Edwardian Villages” (in pictures). Covering a period of many years of life in various villages up and down the country, this included various styles of living accommodation, types of work and occupation available at the time. Agriculture, mines and Brickworks being the forerunners at the time, as the story continued, we progressed from thatched roofs to brick buildings, farmers ploughing with a one blade plough, horse drawn of course, then on to the latest modern methods of todays farmers. The talk continued ending up in the local area of Retford and surrounding villages bringing us from the late 1800’s right up to the present times and bringing back memories for most of those present. Comments from the floor were encouraged by the speaker and stimulated by the contents of the presentation itself .A very interesting presentation with some of the information shared being part of our rural and national heritage and gratefully received by those present, declaring it as another success for Retford Men’s Probus Club.
Retford Men’s Probus Club. 07/02/2024
When the club met on Friday 2nd February 2024 Martin Allan was the guest speaker. Martin is no stranger to the club and has addressed the group on previous occasions. Martin Allan spent a number of years working as a member of the Health and Safety Executive. A trained chemist, he was involved with the post Flixborough explosion investigations and the Piper Alpha Oil Rig disasters. Martin then spent several years working as a Safety Manager working on oil platforms in the North Sea He has also worked on various other projects including the Humber Bridge To give you some idea how Health and Safety in the workplace works, throughout the period between 1970 and 2000 over 200 people each year were killed at work, with most being in the construction industry. During last year only 135 were killed with 45 killed in construction (this is up from 30 killed in construction in 2022). A very informative talk with a bit of humour thrown in as the speaker related tales of visits to factories, garages and warehouses during his time as a factory inspector. With of lots of encouraged audience participation. Another good choice of speaker by Retford Men’s Probus Club.