MAY: Ladies Lunch “Victorian Leisure and Pleasure”, Talk by Ian Bevan
At their May lunch held at Weybourne House the members of Probus’83 Club – Guildford were pleased to welcome their ladies and the newly elected Mayor of Guildford, Cllr. Jennifer Jordan as their guests. After a fine lunch- entertainment came from a guest speaker Mr Ian Bevan, an author and City of London Guide and Lecturer in history at various colleges who spoke on the subject of “ Victorian Leisure and Pleasure

His illustrated talk showed how The Victorians made an enormous contribution in building our modern world.  This included many of the recreational activities that we take for granted – the modern theatre, and concert halls, organised sport and civic parks, visits to the seaside thanks to the introduction of the railway, fairgrounds, music hall, museums and much more and allowed us to take a trip back to the 19th century and the pleasure of Victorian England.The talk included many amusing anecdotes and snippets of information.Who knew that William Henry Smith of newsagent fame, who expanded the firm and introduced the practice of selling books and newspapers at railway stations was also a Member of Parliament who rose to the position of First Lord of the Admiralty. Because of his lack of naval experience, he was satirised by Gilbert and Sullivan as the character Sir Joseph Porter in their operetta H.M.S. Pinafore.

APRIL:  “Microscopy as a Hobby Interest”, talk by Ven Dodge, a member of our Club
At their April luncheon, a fellow member, Ven Dodge, treated members of the Probus ‘83 Club, Guildford to a fascinating talk on the subject “Microscopy as a Hobby”. Mr Dodge said that, as a teenager, he was bitten by the bugs of microscopy and photography and had never recovered! Microscopes were no longer brass tubes that only one person at a time could squint down. The advent of laptop computers and digital cameras meant that images could now be shared on TV screens. He then proceeded to project amazing images of the multitude of beautiful minute shells that are in a grain of sand or in a sliver of chalky rock. The frightening scraper that was the tongue of a sea snail, the amazing crystalline structure of a common product such as paracetamol and the ethereal beauty of butterfly wings held the audience spellbound. Mr Dodge then showed how such common objects could be stained, magnified and photographed to produce art to rival any abstract composition in Tate Modern. Members found the talk with the slides an insight into an unsuspected world of beauty. Mr Dodge thanked Brian Davidson, Phillip Greaves and Neil Dodge, fellow members of The Quekett Microscopical Club, for assisting with the presentation. Mr Dodge was presented with a cheque for his chosen charity, The Royal British Legion.