December news.

Congleton Dane Probus Club held their pre-Christmas meeting at the Lion and Swan on Monday the 15th of December and Vice Chairman Don Cole was pleased to welcome guest John Whitehurst and speaker Keith Vigurs.

Congleton Dane Probus Club held their pre-Christmas meeting at the Lion and Swan on Monday the 15th of December and Vice Chairman Don Cole was pleased to welcome guest John Whitehurst and speaker Keith Vigurs.

The secretary reported that the Club had received the resignation of Michael Saunders (for family reasons) and the members wished him well. Paul also informed the members about the recent link to Amazon on the website, some website additions and also reminded members of their obligations regarding car parking at the Lion and Swan. He also thanked Lee Shipton on behalf of the members for all his work on the pocket list and this was warmly endorsed by the members.

The treasurer reminded the meeting that the subscriptions for the coming year were now due and would be much appreciated. He also brought to members attention the fact that the venue for the spring lunch (due early in March) was requiring quite a substantial deposit and therefore numbers were required quite soon in order to secure the booking.

Don Cole brought the members up to date with the situation regarding the proposed trip to Holland in May and Mervin gave the meeting an outline of his proposed day out on the Manchester Ship Canal in early June. The cost was considered reasonable and many members showed an interest in joining that trip.

Several other ideas were discussed, including a visit to the Railway Museum in Crewe, the British Waterways exhibition at Ellesmere Port, a day at the tram museum at Critch plus the possibility of trips to Birmingham, Leeds and Wakefield along with some other interesting suggestions.

Peter Jordan gave members information regarding the health of Graham Parry and the members present asked Peter to convey their best wishes to Geoff. Peter also confirmed that the date of the meeting in December 2015 would be Monday the 14th.

The speaker Keith Vigurs gave a very interesting and amusing talk on the subject of ‘Mystery Shopping’. The talk was thoroughly enjoyed by the members and Trevor Adams expressed the members’ appreciation.

The speaker at the January meeting will be member Alan Topliss who will be giving a talk on the subject of Tatti Popa and refers to the time that he spent in Namibia so it should be very interesting.

Probus clubs are local to towns and districts and are made up of retired business and professional people. They are non-denominational and the name itself derives from the first three letters from ‘PROfessional and BUSiness’.

We meet once a month for a regular meeting and to listen to an invited speaker, followed by lunch at the hotel for those who wish to stay. During the year many other activities are arranged, such as visits to places of interest (e.g. television studios, factory sites, museums etc.), days-out at the races, sports events ranging from snooker (regularly) to ten-pin-bowling, canal boat cruises, countryside walks, club lunches with spouses invited and group holidays.