Probus Activities Updates

Probus 2025 Calendar

Week 32		THURSDAY 7TH AUGUST
		10.45am The Hub Mike Siegel: History of Kingston
		Quarterly Lunch at Zeitoun
Week 33	TUESDAY 12TH AUGUST	THURSDAY 14TH AUGUST
	City Walk Stephen Chater: Barbican Survival and Smithfield Tall Tales	Five-mile Walk Longy Down and Hare & Hounds with Dick Bell
Week 34	THURSDAY 21ST AUGUST
	RAC Club Richard Davies: Golf	Three-mile Walk
Week 35		THURSDAY 28TH AUGUST
		Eight-mile Walk
Week 36		THURSDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER
		10.45am The Hub David Walker-Smith: Lessons learned from 25 years in Southeast Asia
Week 39	TUESDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER		FRIDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER
	10am The Foley Stephen McEvoy: Money Matters		2pm Greyfriars Vineyard David Thompson: Vineyard Tour
Week 40		THURSDAY 2ND OCTOBER
		10.45am The Hub David Bickerton: The Pursuit and Sinking of Bismarck
Week 45		THURSDAY 6TH NOVEMBER
		10.45am The Hub Iain Kennedy: The Story of the Suez Canal

August 2025

The next Probus meeting on the 7th August will be at the Claygate Youth & Community Hub. Coffee will be available from 10:30 and the meeting will start at 10:45.

The meeting will commence with the usual updates on our upcoming activities followed by a talk on "The History of Kingston upon Thames” given by Mike Siegel. Mike taught Latin, Greek and History for many years at St Paul's School, is the former headmaster of Rokeby School in Kingston and for the past 7 years has been the Town Crier and Tipstaff of Kingston upon Thames. We will no doubt hear more about the role of the Tipstaff at the meeting.

If you are unable to attend the meeting please send your apologies to Clive Thompson (clivethompson07@gmail.com).

Our next speakers will be our own David Walker-Smith in September with "Lessons learned from 25 years in Southeast Asia", David Bickerton in October with "The Pursuit and Sinking of Bismarck" and Iain Kennedy in November with "The Story of the Suez Canal” .

The meeting will be followed by our Quarterly lunch at Zeitoun Claygate.

See you all at the Claygate Youth & Community Hub on Thursday 7th August - please wear your badges.

Best wishes

Brian

July 2025

Quarterly Lunch

As indicated at our recent meeting, the next quarterly lunch will be on the 7th August when we will visit Zeitoun, the Lebanese restaurant next to the Averna.

If you are able to attend, please select a main course and dessert from the list below (for example 3A) and email me your choice by 31st July.

The price of a two-course meal will be £25 including gratuities. Payment should be made to the Probus Club of Claygate (account 70566195, sort code 20-90-56). Please inform Roger Hidden and me when you have done so.

Best wishes

Brian

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Other Diary Dates

This month:
Walks	Thurs 10th July – The short walk, approximately five miles, will be led by Gavin Wilson. This walk will commence at The Plough, Effingham (KT24 5SW) departing at 10.15am and walking over Bookham and Effingham Commons, passing the Lovelace estate. Lunch will be at The Plough at the conclusion of the walk. Please contact Gavin if you would like to join the walk and the lunch.
	Thurs 17th July – Keith Chapple, assisted by Laurence Moody will be leading the short stroll of 2-to-3 miles around Arbrook and Esher Common with lunch following at a pub following the walk. Further details to follow.
	Thurs 24th July – The eight-mile walk which will be led by Mike Dunn will be in the Merstham area, near Redhill. Lunch arrangements and further details about this walk will be issued separately to those on the walkers list.
Further into the future:
Quarterly Lunch	Please note that the next quarterly lunch for members will take place after the August monthly meeting on Thursday 7th August at the Zeitoun restaurant on The Green. Reservation form to follow.
London City Walk	Stephen Chater will be leading the final day of his City Walk entitled Barbican Survival & Smithfield Tall Tales on Tuesday 12th August. Contact Stephen if you would like to join this guided walk. (Four places remain.)
Golf	Richard Davies has arranged the next golf meeting on 21st August at the RAC Club, Epsom. Please contact Richard if you would like to play at the above event. Good luck to Richard & Tim Lovett who will be representing Claygate Probus at the Surrey Probus Golf meeting at Tyrells Wood on 31st July.
Money Matters	The next meeting of the Money Matters group, chaired by Stephen McEvoy, will be held at The Foley on Tuesday 23rd September starting at 10am.
Wine Tasting	The next wine tasting, which will be organised by David Thompson, is expected to take place in September. Further details to follow.
Theatre	Nigel Forrest has organised a theatre visit to the Orange Tree, Richmond on Saturday 17th January 2026 to see a production of The Rivals. Reservations are now being taken for this visit (please contact Nigel). A second future theatre visit is being arranged by Roger Hargreaves to see I’m Sorry Prime Minister on Thursday 12th March 2026 at the Apollo Theatre in London. There are now only two tickets remaining for this event. Respond asap to Roger Hargreaves if you would like to join this event.
River Cruise	Nigel Forrest will be sharing details in the coming months about the next River Cruise, which is likely to be in 2027.