Skegness Men's Probus

'A number of members including one new member and one prospective member attended our first business meeting of 2024

Our first meeting of 2024 started with brief club business followed by coffee and biscuits. As our speaker lives in Berkshire his presentation was conducted via ZOOM and proved very successful. Christopher Leworthy spoke of the Dambuster's Raid, how it came into being, what happened on the raid and the aftermath and results of the raid. Our members were so enthralled, they all watched and listened in silence. Chris answered a few questions and was thanked by President Ivan.

At our second meeting in February, we were addressed by Oonah Quinn from Healthwatch Lincolnshire. Oonah outlined the reasons for the formation of the scheme and how particularly we could voice our opinions on how well, or otherwise, our health service was working in order that recommendations on how the service could be improved could be implemented. Oonah acknowledged that the service was not running as efficiently as everyone would like and that this was primarily due to lack of staff in the area. She did however praise the efforts that the local team were providing and added that it was hoped that by the end of this year, we would have a Community Diagnostic Centre up and running in Skegness, in addition to our existing doctors practices which should save a lot of locals having to travel distances to seek medical care. An active session of questions and answers was enjoyed and we each left with a free pen!

13th March Our speaker today was Steve Tandy from the Linc & Notts Air Ambulance . Steve is a volunteer fund raiser for the service and spoke of the services aims, it's achievements and it's desperate need for funds. The Air Ambulance is a much needed service to Lincolnshire in view of the distance we have to travel in this county to get to a major trauma unit, transfer by helicopter cutting down the travelling time thus allowing patients to receive urgent treatment far quicker than being transferred by road. The Air Ambulance carries paramedics capable of carrying many medical procedures which can be life saving as time is of the essence. Steve's talk was illustrated and generated much interest and the club was happy to make a donation to the service and this was enhanced by members adding their own personal contribution. 27th March Our second meeting of March was addressed by Gina Claridge from Carers First . She spoke of the assistance that is available locally to people who are unpaid carers of family, friends and neighbours. We all know of the help available for people with disabilities but those who give up time to help and care also need support. It is so easy for carers to become so involved in caring for others that they forget to care for themselves . Gina explained what help was available and how carers also supported each other. Gina came over as a very dedicated person in the role she plays.

President Ivan Podbury with Steve

Gina with Tom Hedges

top of the page

April 10th Today's meeting was our first in the Skegness Pensioners hall at the corner of Grantham Drive and Lincoln Road. With the help of many members who turned up early, the hall was set up almost exactly as our previous venue and in plenty of time for the start of proceedings. As always we start our meetings with a report from the officers for which we are grateful to our Almoner for his commitment to our members, to ensure that whilst they are not in a position currently to attend the meetings, they and us are kept up-to-date. Eric Noel-Farthing also arrived early to get himself organised for his talk on Lord Haw- Haw. Eric, before retirement was a university lecturer keeping twenty members , a guest and three ladies who had gracefully agreed to make refreshments for us interested throughout his talk. Eric was very knowledgable regarding his subject as there were a number of leading questions at the end of his talk, all answered quite confidently. Ivan thanked Eric at the end of the meeting. We are sure that there will be a new talk from him during 2025 April 24th Our second meeting of April was addressed by Chas Tibble from the Skegness RNLI . Chas spoke of the history of the lifeboat in Skegness starting in 1824 when the lifeboat, manned by 6 oarsmen was based at Gibraltar Point. He talked us through the lifeboat stations in Lifeboat Avenue, on South parade and now on the Town Esplanade, our latest boat, the Joel & April Grunnill being a Shannon Class with a crew of 6 which cost £2.2m funded by the Grunnill family, Joel having been a notable member of the Skegness RNLI Team. We were happy to make a donation to the RNLI and members put their hands in their pockets to purchase items from the franchise brought by the ladies from the lifeboat shop.

top of the page