13 November 2024 - 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 2024 - 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 2024 - 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.​​​​​​​​​​​​​

 

11 September 2024 - Monthly Lunch

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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 2024 - Annual General Meeting

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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 2023 - President's Ladies Lunch

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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 2024 - Monthly Lunch

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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 2024 - Monthly Lunch

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​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 2024 - 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 2024 - Monthly Lunch

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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 2024 - Monthly Lunch

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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 2024 - Monthly Lunch

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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 2024 - Monthly Lunch

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

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8 December 2023 - President's Ladies' Christmas Dinner

 

​​Held at the West Sussex Golf Club, the Club’s highlight social event of the year was a glittering and festive dinner/dance.  Members, their partners, Friends and guests thoroughly enjoyed the superb food and service laid on by the Golf Club and the lively entertainment provided by solo entertainer, Paul Stanworth, all in the beautifully decorated surroundings. In his address Club President Rob Neal-Smith praised the wide range and frequency of social activities undertaken by the Club during the past year and looked forward to a another active year in 2024 while highlighting Members' collective responsibility to ensure our continuing success by actively seeking to recruit new members.

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11 August 2023 - Annual General Meeting

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Our 2023 annual general meeting when Rob Neal-Smith succeeded Tony Girard as club president for the year 2023-24.​​​​​