User:Harry10Thorn/The Probus Club of Heywood

THE PROBUS CLUB OF HEYWOOD The name PROBUS is derived from PROfessional and BUSiness. A Probus Club is an association for retired professional and business men (and more recently women) who join together in clubs throughout the U.K. and worldwide. The aims of the Heywood club is to provide a regular meeting place for members where they can enjoy a programme of talks, by invited speakers, on topics for the interest, enlightenment and entertainment. In addition to this the Heywood club arranges a series of social events to which wives/partners and friends of members can be invited to attend. History Heywood Probus Club was founded in 1972. Looking back through the archives of the Club, the first record we have is the minutes of a meeting held on 23rd May 1972. This was a meeting held under the auspices of The Heywood Rotary Club to examine the possibility of starting a Probus Club in Heywood. The meeting was held at Heywood Bowling Club on Queens Park Road. By invitation JW Preen accepted the position of President, Stanley Wilde Secretary, and SA Stokes that of Treasurer. JF Bolton and F Clifford Wilde also consented to serve on the committee. The first meeting of the ‘Club’ was at Heywood Bowling Club on 30th June 1972. At that meeting members of Heywood Rotary Club and the new Probus committee members were asked to seek out suitable people to join this new venture. Heywood Bowling Club became the first venue for meetings and membership grew steadily; currently membership is limited to 45. In November 1974 meetings were moved to The Freemasons Arms Hotel on Market St. Heywood. In September 1988 meetings we moved to our present home at the Albany Hotel, Rochdale Rd. East. The early records of the club are rather fragmentary but in the mid 80’s notes were being kept on each meeting. This developed into full minuting during the secretariship of Alan Walker in 1989. At this time the club meetings had developed to include an invited speaker at most meeting. In the 90’s a social program began to develop including a Summer day out, walks, eventually developing to include club holidays. After early opposition, from a few members, wives and friends were invited to join in all the social events. The Christmas Lunch This was a feature of the club’s program right from the start and a lunch has been held every year since 1973. Initially this was a members only function to which the lord mayor of Heywood and President of Heywood Rotary Club were invited to attend. More recently wives and friends of the club are invited to attend this function. The Anniversary Lunch. During the Presidency of John Geddes at a meeting on 4th February 1992 Stanley Jackson reminded members that May 1992 was the 20th anniversary of the formation of Heywood Probus Club. He asked the membership if they wished to celebrate the occassion. It was decided that a buffet lunch would be served after the meeting on the 19th May 1992. This lunch was at the Albany Hotel. This lunch has become an annual fixture in the Club program. In recent years this function has been held at the Masonic Buildings in Rochdale and more recently at ‘The Royal Toby Hotel’ Castleton where silver service dining in enjoyed. PAST PRESIDENTS 1972/4	JW Preen		1987	H. Wright	2000	W. Brisk 1975	JB Tomlinson		1988	S. Healy	2001	D. Wilson 1976	CL Mason		1989	J. Howarth	2002	R. Gate 1977	JH Todd		       1990	S. Jackson	2003	A. Glover 1978	E Broughton		1991	A. Murtha	2004	G. Lees 1979	Rev T Vause		1992	J. Geddes	2005	R. Ashton 1980	HS Clarke		1993	M. Peers	2006	W. Nunwick 1981	TC Muir		       1994	J. Wilson	2007	R. Taylor 1982	JJ Wilkinson		1995	A. Walker	2008	P. Chetwynd 1983	G Shadwick		1996	G. Mitchell	2009	B. Schofield 1984	W Healey		1997	G. James	2010 1985	EJW Aspinall		1998	H. Sumner 	2011 1986	R Hollinrake		1999	K. Farrington	2012 Club Secretaries The first Secretary of the Club was Stanley Wilde 1972 – 1984 1984 - 1988		Stanley Jackson 1989 - 1993		Alan Walker 1994 - 1996		Walter Brisk 1997 - 2003		Alan Glover 2003 - 2008		Harry Palmer 2009 - 			Brian Leightell