The July lunch was held back at our usual venue at Cuddington Golf Club, and was well attended despite the heat, members having been advised by the Chairman in advance that the customary ties and jackets need not be worn in these conditions. After all had taken their seats, one of our number was presented with a Probus pin badge marking 25 years of membership, to general applause.
The meal itself consisted of a first course of tuna with savoury rice and pineapple salsa, followed by an Eton mess desert. Before the speaker there was a brief extraordinary general meeting for the purpose of holding a vote on whether or not the Club should the draft constitution presented to it by the Committee. It was made clear that the Committee was taking a neutral stance since the issue was for the members themselves to decide. Voting by ballot was to take place after the talk.
Our speaker for July was Louise Camby and her subject, “Capturing the curvature of the earth on Concorde”. Louise gave a lively and entertaining presentation of the history of Concorde, giving details of too many landmark moments to list in full here, but including: the creation in 1956 of the Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee; testing the British and French prototypes in the late 1960s; the first scheduled flights to New York in 1977; and the crash of Air France Flight 4590 in July 2000, which spelt the beginning of the end for this great plane.
After a warm round of applause for Louise, the members present posted their votes in the ballot box provided, and the ensuing count revealed that while just over half were in favour of the constitution, the number of votes for was not large enough to meet the required two-thirds of the membership for such an important issue.
John Gilbert
In the week prior to our lunch a dozen members and their wives enjoyed a guided tour of the and gardens at Losely Park
Thanks to Norman Rodda our Social Secretary for arranging an interesting afternoon out in Surrey.
Comments