Colin Turner, who is a Probus member will be giving us a talk on the swinging 60's

A nostalgic, enjoyable and thought provoking wander through the era including music to complement the talk. 

This talk focuses on the historical aspects of Witchcraft in Sussex and looks at what a typical witch (wise woman) would have done on a day to day basis in her village or community. Period cures and medicines are detailed, taken from the practice of Suzannah Stacey, of East Chiltington, a well known Sussex witch of the Victorian period. Artefacts and locations relating to witchcraft are also featured, including the Priest House, West Hoathly, famous for its large number of anti-witch charms, still in place today. The talk also details witch trials in Sussex and the legacy of witchcraft in modern times among the Wicca movement.

SERV Sussex is a UK registered charity that provides transport services for blood, blood products and other urgent medical items for NHS Hospitals across Sussex.

The service is provided free of charge to the NHS via a committed team of volunteer riders and drivers mainly using their own vehicles at their own expense.

By offering this free service, SERV enables hospitals to focus their resources on patient care by reducing transport bills.

Nigel will talk about the development of fire fighting from the earliest known forms through social changes, the industrial revolution, two world wars and modern day. A wide use of photographs enhances the talk. Additionally he will discuss the role of women in fire fighting especially during the Great War.

Having spent 10 years as a postman in Arundel, Martin will be giving a talk that will give all the whys and wherefores about the Duke, the Castle, the church and Cathedral, along with general information about the architecture and people that make Arundel what we see today.

Significant Milestones in Aviation both positive and negative but all of which had a major impact on the Global Development of Aviation. Nothing too technical. Food for thought the next time you take to the skies whether as crew or passenger or even just gazing at a plane passing overhead.

Anthony is  a voluteer with the Wey & Arun Canal Trust.

The Wey & Arun Canal Trust aims to restore the 23-mile abandoned canal which runs through Surrey and Sussex and create the missing link between Britain’s inland waterways and the English Channel.

The Trust has 3,000 members, volunteers and staff have restored significant stretches and thier showcase site at Loxwood, West Sussex, hosts public boat trips from Spring to Autumn as well as welcoming canoeists and paddleboarders. The Trust was formed in 1973 and celebrated its 50-year anniversary in 2023 when they opened their latest restored section in Birtley just south of Bramley in Surrey. 

The English are renowned throughout the world as a nation with more eccentrics than any other country. But what is an eccentric?

Some years ago, the first and only, formal study was undertaken by two academics. Bill's talk examines the results of this study and describes examples of some of history’s strangest people.

If not eccentric, why do ‘normal’ people participate and celebrate eccentric traditions, with examples of those taking place around the country in a typical year.

Bill takes a look at some other odd historical customs and finally asks, are there any present-day eccentrics?

Mary Sommerville was a 19th century scientist and writer who studied mathematics and astronomy.

Somerville College, a college of the Universy of Oxford is named after her, reflecting the virtues of liberalism and academic success that the college wished to embody.

Steve Bird has been invited back to give us another amusing talk on his life as a HR man! 

Following much positive feedback from the ‘Industrial Relations at Ford’ talk Steve has been prevailed upon to tell tales of what happened next ranging from the firing of Piers Morgan through how to clear an African traffic jam with an AK47 to being arrested as a terrorist suspect in NY.

Dr. Janet Penington's research for her doctoral thesis, The Inns and Taverns of Western Sussex (1550-1700) took her to pubs all over Sussex and in many other counties. If you think you know your White Horse from your Red Lion, or your Kings Head from your Royal Oak, come along and learn something new.

Inn signs were, and still are, much more than external advertising for food, drink and possibly accommodation nowadays. The signs and their brackets reveal patronage, land ownership, social status,  local personalities and events, opening a window on to the past. Sussex inn signs are a colourful addition to our urban and rural surroundings and they are still full of meaning in the twenty-first century.

Alex New, is the Head Gardener/Curator at Highdown Gardens a delightful chalk garden nestled on the side of the South Downs. 

The Garden was created by Sir Frederick and Lady Sybil Stern and they financed plant hunters to bring back chalk friendly plants from all around the world. 

The gardens are now managed by Worthing Borough Council.

A History of Sport in Sussex; from the amazing to the bizarre

This takes a light-hearted look at the history of sporting events in Sussex.

Sport has been a key feature of county life throughout the centuries, with cricket, football and horse racing being commonplace events, as well as the much-loved Sussex game of stoolball.

However, local village sports days were also host to many lesser-known sporting activities. These included jingling matches, menagerie races and piano bashing.

Mathew will regale the audience with tales of all these events, and more, in an entertaining and informative talk, full of wonderful photographs.

Ian joined the Great Britain II in 1977/78 to compete in the Whitbread Round the World Race.

Great Britain II completed her circumnavigation, via the notorious Cape Horn, often racing at breakneck speeds of up to 40 knots, amongst icebergs. 

Ian gives an amusing, personal, highly informative, and sometimes harrowing account of life on board a huge racing yacht as it screams down the freezing seas of the roaring forties and round the Horn. 

Today's talk will be an illustrated introduction to the amazing world of Fungi. The good, the bad, the weird and the wonderful explained.

During a 40-year career in conservation Steve worked for various local authorities, National Parks, the RSPB and Sussex Wildlife Trust. His passion is to look after the special places and wildlife of this amazing planet. 

From trains on the pier to miniature railways and cliff lifts, the seaside has always provided various interesting and delightful forms of transport to amuse holiday makers. This talk tells the story of those that survive today, and some weird and wonderful ones that don't.

The life and times of this comic genius, including several video excerpts from some of his films.

Charlie was born in London and his early life was characterised by poverty, family drunkenness and periods in the workhouse. There was also a history of mental illness in his family.

He learnt his comic trade in Music Halls all over the country, performing with various groups including the famous Fred Karno. It was Karno who was to take Charlie to America where he eventually set up home, morphed into the ’Tramp’, and became a silent cinema star.

In a fascinating, entertaining and uplifting presentation, Andy Thomas uncovers the long and intriguing background to the festive season. From the ancient midwinter celebration of light to the marking of the birth of a messiah, mid-December has long been a time for rituals and rejoicing. Yet the history of Christmas has not been straightforward; its celebration was banned in Puritan times and its merry traditions splintered into many guises before the Victorians rehabilitated the festival into what it has become. Andy shows how, for all the commercialisation, we can still find meaning and enjoy Christmas today while keeping the flame of light alive in the winter darkness.

The RNLI has been saving lives at sea since 1824. Across its 200-year history, RNLI lifesavers have answered the call to rescue. Day or night. On calm seas or into ferocious storms. If someone is in peril at sea, the RNLI will do all it can to save them. Most of the members of its lifeboat crews are unpaid volunteers.

Image: RNLI/Nigel Millard

Steve takes us inside the Ford plants in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s so see what sort of problems and disputes might occur during that tumultuous time.  This talk includes funny stories but also looks at how a major industry went into terminal decline.

Stuart is a Technical Advisor for the Humanitarian and Stabilisation Operations Team. 

He will be talking about the changes in international search and rescue operations over the years, sharing experiences of rescues from collapsed buildings and a little bit around responding to wider humanitarian emergencies.

London is full of oddities and curiosities, the unusual or amusing or perhaps things that are just overlooked even though you have passed by them many times.   Where is that glistening grasshopper? Where is the pet cemetery in central London?  If you need to remount your horse during your visit to London where will you find a mounting block?  What is Quasimodo doing in London?  Hopefully some of these questions and more will be answered in this talk.

The story of a RNVR Lieutenant and a WAAF Corporal, separated for three years during WWII, told through some 150 letters. 

As well as examining the progress of the war, the author explores the social history of the forties based on topics discussed in the letters, detailing films seen in the cinema, books read and the swing music.

Kew Gardens is a botanical garden located in Kew, London. It is the largest UNESCO World Heritage site in London and is home to over 50,000 living plants from around the world. The garden is renowned for its plant collection and is an important scientific institution.  

Father Gerald Kirsch was the Chaplain to the Sussex Air Support unit for over 16 years. The unit was based out of Shoreham Airport and it was used for ambulance purposes as well as various police tasks, such as searching for offenders or fleeing suspects, identifying suspect or stolen vehicles, facilitating vehicle pursuits, transport of police officers, and search & rescue.

In 1912 Titanic was the biggest ship in the world and was thought to be unsinkable. But in the early hours of the 15th April 1912 the unimaginable happened and the magnificent liner sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean after colliding with an iceberg. She took over 1,500 souls with her...

....93 years later, in July 2005, Rob Goldsmith was lucky enough to win a competition run by The History Channel to dive to the wreck-site for a TV documentary, Titanic: A Tale of Two Journeys.