Coronavirus Isolation News

This webpage has been set up temporarily during the Coronavirus Epidemic when the Club has suspended all meetings and social events. This page is for Members and Associates to keep everyone in touch with Club related information.

22nd May 2020

The results of the votes for the 2020 Annual General Meeting are in 

All 24 votes received agreed to the composition of the new Management Committee members and agreed to the proposal on Subscriptions and Joining Fee.

The 2020 AGM has agreed:-

The Club’s Management Committee Officers for 2020/21 will be:-

Chairman - Clive Jones

Vice Chairman - Ray Gatward​

Treasurer - Stuart Arnold

Secretary - Ian Gibson

Social Committee Chairman - Laki Marangos

The Annual Subscriptions for 2020/21 will NOT be levied at this stage – however when the Pandemic lock-down situation changes the Annual Subscription should be reviewed by the Club.

The Joining Fee will remain at £25

1 May 2020

2020 Annual General Meeting

All Club Members have been sent an email today to confirm the 2020 AGM will be dealt with via email this year due to the Pandemic lock-down. If you have any questions on this, please phone the Secretary.

May Birthday Greetings from the Chairman

In the absence of our regular monthly Club meeting which was due to be held on Thursday of next week, I thought it would be nice to wish the following members a very Happy Birthday during the month of May . . .

3^rd – Roger Millard

13^th – Paul Chislett-Trim

The collective age of this pair of rascals is a mere 155 years!  Congratulations to you, gentlemen, and hopefully you are able to enjoy your respective birthdays whilst coping with the current lockdown restrictions.  Chin!  Chin! and good health to you both!

Graham

28 April 2020

2019/20 Annual Journal

Ian Gibson has done a great job for members and associates by completing the latest Annual Report and you can read it in a PDF version the '1996-2020 Annual Journals' webpage above together with all other reports since the Club began. 

Answers to Roger Millard's April Quiz 

This week everyone has been emailed the answers to Roger's second lock-down quiz. Please mark your own attempts then let Roger know your score out of 20 please.

News from David White in Yorkshire 

Associate member David White who moved to Yorkshire from Storrington a couple of years ago reports all is fine with he and his wife Felicite, following her bout of Covid 19 recently.

19 April 2020

Kathy Davis

The Club has received some very sad news - Club Associate Brian Davis has let the club know that his wife Kathy died yesterday. This news will be a shock, especially to our longest serving club friends and colleagues who will have known Brian and Kathy before they moved to Yorkshire some years ago.

11 April 2020

Where & how to get local supplies during the lock-down

Derek Hiscoke & Clive Jones have drawn attention to the list below of some suppliers & take-way sources that may help you during the pandemic lock-down. Hope it helps!

9 April 2020

Management Committee Meeting today

An online video-conference meeting of the Management Committee took place yesterday to take stock of what and how the Club might best deal with the pandemic restrictions over the next few months. As a result of the meeting Graham Moss has today emailed all members and associates to keep everyone in the picture.

6 April 2020

Social Committee Video-conferencing 'Meeting'

Ted Hooker chaired a meeting of the Social Committee using an online video-conference today - it was successful and brief  as only up to 40 minutes for this technologically driven 'meeting' is permitted. Sadly under the restrictions of the pandemic, most social items have had to be cancelled or postponed. To see where each planned event lies presently and what your club is doing abour cheques you may have paid, please read the minutes of that meeting are now posted on the "Social Committee" page on this website.

Answers to Roger Millard's March Quiz

Today everyone has been emailed the answers to Roger's first lock-down quiz. (who would know a collection of Red Kites is called a 'Drove'?) Please mark your own attempts then let Roger and the Secretary know your score out of 20 please.

Don't forget the prize might be Cruiseship tickets!

3 April 2020

Message to members from the Chairman

In the absence of our regular monthly Club meeting yesterday, I thought we can at least wish the following members a very Happy Birthday during the month of April . . .

7^th – Michael Carroll

8^th – Arthur French

25^th – Keith Hamson

26^th – Rob Golding

In addition to our members above, Ian Ferguson (with whom we are keeping in contact with) celebrates his birthday on the 9^th

The collective age of this group of puppies is a mere 401 years!  Congratulations to you, gentlemen, and hopefully you can each enjoy your special day in spite of the current lockdown.  Chin!  Chin! and good health!

Graham

31 March 2020

Happy Birthday Muriel Astley

Graham Moss called Muriel today as it happens to be her birthday! Appparently she is having a "tech-based" interaction with her family this evening when she & they will sitting at their own tables with fine crockery to dinner with a glass of wine to celebrate online - what a lovely thing to do when face-to-face is so difficult!!

National Theatre Free Streaming Service

The National Theatre, since the Epidemic restrictions on life, has set up a "National Theatre at Home" service where we can watch some NT productions free on YouTube. The first free viewing is this week - to read an article on this, click below:-

https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2020/national-theatre-launches-free-streaming-service

30 March 2020

Email Scams 

Mike Brett has pointed out very recent scam attempts he has received in emails that purported to come from 'BT' and 'TV Licensing' saying there is trouble with his payment and inviting him to change things - they are SCAMS.

The April 2020 "Money Which?" magazine also points out that £800,000 has been lost in a month to Coronavirus Scams 

So do be vigililant and always ignore these approaches.

29 March 2020 -

Local Paper article about Norman Humble's 100th Birthday

The West Sussex County Times published a nice item about Norman - click below;-

https://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/people/100th-birthday-club-founder-celebrated-pulborough-despite-coronavirus-limiting-visitors-2517098

Use of this website hits a record

Analysis of this week's number of visitors to the Club Website showed a record of 62 was achieved on 23 March - it must be boredom!

Isolation around illness is not new

John Gilbert drew attention to a story of Eyam village in Derbyshire - click below;-

https://www.eyamvillage.org.uk/plague

28 March 2020

The origin of the word "Quarantine" 

Due the current Coronavirus Pandemic, we have become very familiar with the term Quarantine. It originated from quarantena, meaning "forty days", used in 14th-15th-century Venetian language and designating the period that all ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore during epidemics.

Helen and John Keayes on a visit to Australia had a memorable stay at the historic Quarantine Station at the entrance to Sydney Harbour - to see their website, click below:- 

https://www.qstation.com.au/

27 March 2020 -

Feedback from other local area Probus Clubs

We have heard from 5 local clubs today about what they are doing to keep in touch with their members - the Chanctonbury Probus Management Committee will determine what we can do to replicate other clubs' good ideas.

Roger Millard's March Quiz

The Club Secretary has struggled with this quiz - maybe it is lack of intellect or memory or both!! 

26 March 2020 - 

Message from Gillie & John Collyer

Dear All,
Many thanks for the quiz.  It will help to pass a bit of time and be of interest. 
Wonder how you are all faring?  We had hoped to come to the 25th Anniversary dinner but hopefully there will be another time.
John and I are well though John has slowed a lot and is very unsteady.  An electric mobility scooter has been a great asset and enables us to go out (once a day!) for a walk along the river.  The village management have closed the clubhouse but have a ’shop’ selling essential items for delivery only and the restaurant are doing basic meals for delivery which is a huge help.
With best wishes to all Probus friends,
Gillie and John from our exile no sorry from Exeter!!

25 March 2020 -

Roger Millard's Monthly Quiz 

All Members and Associates have been emailed the first of Roger's Monthly Quizzes - the prize might be tickets for a cruise ship!!!!

24 March 2020 - Contact with other local area Probus Clubs 

Secretary John Keayes has emailed the other 15 local area Probus Clubs with whom we liaise, to ask what they are doing during the epidemic to keep their members involved. Results will be posted on this page to keep you in the picture & hopefully we can steal other Clubs' good ideas!

23 March 2020 - Social Committee Video Conferencing

Laki Marangos and Ted Hooker both from the Club's Social Committee, set up a trial of the "Zoom" App today to link all the committee's members (Ian Gibson, Alan Jeffs, John Keayes, Simon Powlson and Club Chairman Graham) by video conference to determine the practicalities of meeting online. If successful the impact of the epidemic on planned Club social events can be discussed.  It was not without a technical hitch or two but we agreed this process can be useful & the Social Committee will hold its planned meeting on 6th April using this technology. Minutes will be taken and posted on the "Social Committee" webpage (see above) as usual to keep everyone informed. 

20 March 2020 - Questions and Answers 

During the present epidemic this section is intended to provide a quick and simple point of reference for any questions or concerns.  Simplicity is the key, so please accept that the information below will be brief and not conclusive.

If you have any other Club questions you would like addressed then please contact either John Keayes or Graham Moss.  Some of your questions (along with answers) will be added to this page where appropriate.

Q – With the AGM being suspended, what is being done about the annual subscriptions due in May?

A – In collaboration with the Treasurer, it has been decided that there will be no immediate need to make any individual payments for the 2020/21 annual subscriptions.  The Club has sufficient reserves to settle any anticipated future costs without incurring any unnecessary debts.  The position about when (and how much) the 2020/21 annual subs need to be collected will be reviewed once our Club returns to normal activities.

Q – How will information about future Club activities / breaking news etc. be communicated? 

A – The Club’s website should be the primary source of information, especially the recently created new webpage called “Coronavirus Isolation News”.  We will make every attempt to keep this page up-to-date and relevant.  However, the Club will not be a source of advice or information on Coronavirus-specific information.  From time to time, the Club will use the email system to ALL members and associates with specific and relevant information – we will try to keep such emails to a minimum so as not to overwhelm everyone.

Q – What will happen with cheques sent to the Club to pay for a future Club events – what will happen now that all events and activities have been suspended? 

A – The events planned for 2020 vary from being relatively simple ones, like The Fishbourne Roman Palace visit, to quite complex events, like the Trip to Normandy. In collaboration with the Chairman of the Social Committee it is proposed that the individual event organiser will email everyone who has booked a place on the event to confirm whether the event is simply cancelled or continues for the time being, depending on the state of play with the epidemic

Should an event be re-planned, then new event flyers will be issued in the normal way and any event charges will be made clear in these flyers.