2025​

9 April - Monthly Lunch

Again, at the Tottington Manor Hotel, following lunch we enjoyed a presentation by our guest speaker Kevin Newman. He gave us a talk entitled "Scrumptious Sussex"​​. Kevin is an author of novels, history books and school textbooks and his most recent books include "Clock Towers of England", "Pond Puddings and Sussex Smokies" and "The Little History of Sussex".  His talk covered the wide range of food and drink that are to be found in the County of Sussex. Sussex Pond Pudding was one of the interesting recipes mentioned and its shape is reputedly based on the dew ponds found on the South Downs. Another well known offering was Banoffee Pie which was originally created at the Hungry Monk Restaurant in Jeavington.

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Members thoroughly enjoyed the talk and finding out more about the culinary offerings of Sussex.

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12 March - Monthly Lunch

Meeting at the Tottington Manor Hotel, we started the meeting with our president, Peter Edwards, inducting two new members, Chris Lee and Steve Young. They were warmly welcomed into the club and each gave a short talk about themselves.

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After a  delightful lunch, our guest speaker, Edwin Preece, gave a most nostalgic and interesting illustrated talk on “The Sixties: Pop, Pictures, Plays and Politics”. He touched upon the major social changes that took place during that decade. The talk reflected Edwin’s deep interest in the theatre and cinema of the 1960s and thereafter, and the impact that music, in particular, had on everyday life.

 

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12 February - Monthly Lunch

At the Findon Manor Hotel, this month's talk was entitled “Behind the Privet Hedge”, presented by Michael Gilson an award-winning journalist and former editor of The Scotsman and the Belfast Telegraph among others. His talk acknowledged that Britain is a nation of gardeners and that suburban gardens, with their roses and privet hedges, are widely admired and copied across the world. However, it is little understood how millions of people developed an obsession with their colourful plots of land. Despite their stereotype as symbols of dull, middle-class conformity, these new open space gardens were seen as a means to bring about social change in the early twentieth century.

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Michael explored the history of this development. He also introduced us to a remarkable, but long-forgotten figure, Richard Sudell, who spent a lifetime ‘evangelizing’ that the garden should be in the vanguard of progress towards a new egalitarian society with everyday beauty at its centre. The talk was therefore about social history rather than purely horticultural.

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​8 January - Monthly Lunch

Before lunch at the Findon Manor Hotel, we were thrilled to induct two new members - Tim Bubb and Stephen Forster. Welcome both!

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This was followed by lunch. Then we were treated to a highly entertaining and informative talk on the “Art of Variety”. Our speaker, Brian O’Gorman, had close relatives who performed in variety shows that were hugely popular during the first half of the 20th century. His father and uncle performed as the “O’Gorman Brothers” and were often on the same bill as famous performers such as Max Miller.

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Using actual paintings of variety show performers and original theatre posters, Brian explained how the order of the performers in variety shows was created. He also amused us with his range of variety show jokes and impersonations. An excellent presentation.​

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2024

​​11 December - Club's Christmas Lunch

At the Findon Manor Hotel, the club held its annual Christmas Lunch with all the trimmings and festive fun - crackers, a few Christmas Carols and many jokes (some of them were quite funny!). We were also pleased to welcome Martin Baker as a new member.

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6 December - President's Ladies' Christmas  Dinner

Held at the West Sussex Golf Club, 44 members, wives, partners and guests enjoyed an excellent meal, great company, and an amusing speech by our president, Peter Edwards. We ended the evening by listening and dancing to our entertainer/guitarist Paul Stanworth. The event was organised by Vice-President Paul and the raffle by Tony and Maureen.

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13 November - Monthly Lunch

At this meeting, Dr Tim Fookes gave a very interesting and informative talk on the work of the High Sheriff. The talk was entitled “A Year Like No Other” to reflect the fact that Tim’s year in the role coincided with the pandemic.

 

Tim has been a GP in Pulborough, since 1992 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of GPs in recognition of his national work on the early detection of Sepsis in children and young people. 

 

He was appointed High Sheriff of West Sussex in 2020 and will repeat the role in 2025.  In this he is both the first medical doctor to hold the Office in Sussex and the first to be appointed twice since 1551. In addition to explaining the current role of the High Sheriff, Tim informed the meeting that the Office of High Sheriff is the oldest secular Office in the United Kingdom, dating back to the 7th Century when Ine was the ruler of a small kingdom near Winchester.

 

The original title of the post was “Scir Man” and it reached the height of its powers under the Normans. When the Shires were formed, the title developed into “Shire Reeve” and it has developed into the current “High Sheriff” with the attendant duties described by Tim during his talk.

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​​9 October - Monthly Lunch

Chris Churchman has been a Landscape Architect for more than 40 years, setting up and  running one of the UK’s leading practices in1993. His more memorable projects  include The Sammy Ofer Wing National Maritime Museum, Tower Hill, London, the  reworking of the Elephant and Castle estate, an HS2 Station and the Universities of  Birmingham and Warwick. He gave a presentation on "Losing our Landscape".​

 

Chris spoke about the UK's agricultural landscape which still occupies nearly 90% of our land and which is under multiple threats. Whilst climate change is certainly  one of the biggest it is not the only problem. Other issues he described are: a farming workforce that is diminishing and ageing; removal of the subsidies that have underpinned 

agriculture for 70 years; aggressive buying practices by supermarkets; our attitudes to food and our move away from meat-based diets; and our concerns about the use of chemicals, plus house building, water quality, etc. The agricultural landscape we know will change, and it has to. He posed the question: what will follow?

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21 September - Storrington on Show

We "manned" a stall at the Storrington on Show event held at Chanctonbury Leisure Centre. It was a showcase for local voluntary and community organisations to raise awareness of their activities and to encourage more support by way of new volunteers or, in our case, new members. 

We were encouraged by the level of interest shown in our offering despite the low footfall, the rain and insufficient parking facilities. 

Many grateful thanks to President Peter, Alan, Les A-W, Les N and Clive who gave up their time to host our stand and to encourage passers-by to learn more about our Club and, hopefully, participate in our social events.​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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11 September - Monthly Lunch​

Our lunch-time speaker at the Tottington Manor Hotel was Dr. Geoffrey Mead. He gained his PhD in Geography from the University of Sussex, so was well-placed to present about the evolution in the way in which people have worked in the county over thousands of years. 

We were taken on a fascinating, interesting and informative explanation from the time when people mined flints for their personal use, through the development of a system of trading goods, to the modern service sector economy that exists within the County today.

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14 August - Annual General Meeting​​

We held our annual general meeting at the Random House Hotel during which the club's presidency changed from Rob Neal-Smith to Peter Edwards. Rob wished Peter a successful and enjoyable forthcoming year. Peter thanked Rob for the hard work he had put into moving the club forward during a difficult year and vowed to continue that progress.

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23 July - President's Ladies Lunch ​​

Our highlight social event of the Summer was a delightfully convivial luncheon at West Sussex Golf Club. Members, their partners, Friends and guests thoroughly enjoyed the superb food and service laid on by the Golf Club.

In his address, Club President Rob Neal-Smith, praised the ladies for their significant and important participation in the Club’s many social events throughout the year and for their invaluable support to the Members which helps to secure the continuing success of the Club.​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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10 July - Monthly Lunch​​​​

At our July meeting we had an interesting and informative talk from Hamish Brown, a retired Detective Inspector from the Specialist Crime Directorate at New Scotland Yard. His talk was entitled “Stalking the Stalker”.

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Hamish is a leading UK and international authority and regularly lectures and gives advice on a global basis. During his career of over 30 years’ service with the Metropolitan Police he developed a thorough investigative background, in the fields of rape, murder and contract killing.​

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His presentation set off with a fascinating case history of an investigation which involved the stalking of a young lady over a six month period by a series of anonymous letters. These letters were intimidating and of frightening nature. The case was outlined to detail the investigation and to emphasise the psychological affect stalking has on its victims.

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Hamish also explained what stalking is, or can be, outlined investigative tips on how to deal with victims of this unique and distressing crime, and detailed some of the methods previously used by stalkers.

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12 June - Monthly Lunch​​

​Our very own John Bradley spoke with great authority and some humour, initially about the history of, and his personal involvement with Gifford House in Worthing. John informed us about the strong, determined and influential women who fought and cajoled those in authority to open up places that could be used to care for returning wounded servicemen and its links to the Queen Mother.

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Moving seamlessly onto D-Day, John recounted his experience of that particular day. He invited two other "senior members" - Clive and Peter E. - to also recollect their memories of that historic day. Whilst it was many years ago, and all three were but young boys then, they all gave vivid descriptions of what they saw and experienced.​

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8 May - Monthly Lunch​​

Our guest speaker this month was Ian Worley, an experienced and distinguished yachtsman, who spoke about “Racing to Victory in the Southern Ocean". His interesting talk covered how the 78 foot racing yacht, Great Britain II, on which Ian was First Mate, overcame many odds to win line hours in the 1977/78 Whitbread Around the World Race.

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10 April - Monthly Lunch​​

Frances Farrer-Brown gave us a fascinating talk about the town of Rye. In her very own style and assisted with pictures of the town's landmarks, she covered much of the interesting history and stories of the people and places that can be seen and appreciated today.

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13 March - Monthly Lunch​​

In addition to Jonathan Beardmore talking about "Filming at the Bluebell Railway", we were pleased to welcome as a new member Henryk Kaskow from West Chiltington.​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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14 February - Monthly Lunch​​

A most interesting, well-researched and informative presentation by David Bickerton about the pursuit of the German battleship Bismark and its sinking on 26-27 May 1941.

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10 January - Monthly Lunch​​​

This was the first lunch of 2024 when we received a most interesting and informative presentation from guest speakers Chris Connors and Sharon Perry from CoCo's Foundation.

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2023

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8 December  President's Ladies' Christmas Dinner ​​at the West Sussex Golf Club, 

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11 August   Annual General Meeting​​ when Rob Neal-Smith succeeded Tony Girard as club president for the year 2023-24.​​​​​