Member’s Lunches are held at Banstead Downs Golf Club from 12 noon.
Website – http://www.bansteaddowns.co.uk
The Two Ladies Lunches are held at the Kingswood Golf & Country Club, Kingswood on the first Wednesday in May and December.
Web site – https://www.kingswood-golf.co.uk
Details of forthcoming speakers are listed below. Information on previous speakers can be found under Member’s lunches on the Recent Activities page.
2019
Next Meeting:-
(Please note this is the 2nd Wednesday in the month)
Wednesday 10th July 2019 – Brian Aldred – Underground London
“An interesting insight to all the various tunnels and networks under the ground in London”
Brian Aldred is a retired Telecommunication Consultant with a career covering Information, Communications and Systems (ICT) for Road, Rail & Airport Information, Oil & Gas, Insurance, Education and Defence sectors. He developed a 25 year ‘blueprint’ for new Communication systems for the whole of London Underground and was invited to cover the role of Chief Engineer – Communications and implement the core infrastructure and radio systems.
During this challenging role he became aware of all the hidden infrastructure under the City of London and pieced together this talk ‘Underground London – Part 1. All information is in the public domain but even recent TV documentaries have not reached what is literally a world beneath your feet.
Brian is currently President of The Probus Club of the Sussex Weald where the talk(s) were initially delivered. The talk covers ten themes, includes many colour slides, videos and accompanying sound that will guarantee you will not fall asleep.
7th August 2019 – Douglas Eaton – Madcap Ideas and Quirky Inventions
Doug’s talk is about the things we didn’t know we needed; things we could probably do without! The thin line between crazy and genius.
Doug’s first twenty-one years were spent in Liverpool, with music playing a key part in his life – performing at The Cavern Club with The Detonators rock group alongside The Beatles, working at Brian Epstein’s NEMS record shop, and booking the groups for gigs at Liverpool University.
He spent over thirty years in the corporate business world, with conglomerates such as Unilever, Reed International and Barratt Homes – and smaller companies that few people have ever heard of! After receiving the ‘Queen’s Award for Enterprise’ from Her Majesty, he sold his shares in Colour Workshop, the company he helped to grow from £2m to £25m in five years.
At this time, he ‘re-invented’ himself, and in the last twelve years – as well as establishing himself as an entertaining speaker with Social Groups and as a Guest Lecturer on cruise ships – he has been a mentor, a business advisor in the developing world, a mystery shopper, created a house-building business and become a publisher. He still plays music – with his rock group, The Elderly Brothers, and organizes sing-alongs in care homes.
Wednesday 4th September 2019 –
Wilf Lower – Behind the scenes of television’s golden years.
Growing up in a family home providing ‘pro digs’ for music hall and variety performers appearing at local theatres, it was hardly surprising Wilf acquired an intimate knowledge of ‘the business’. However, he opted for a more ‘respectable’ career in management, but subsequently joined BBC television where for many years – including the ‘golden days’ of the seventies and eighties, he was responsible for Scenic Operations – the scenery, props, and ‘working’ the shows…. essentially everything seen on the screen except the performers, their costumes and make-up! Wilf subsequently set up a consultancy serving the television, film and theatre industries, which included several years with the National Theatre on London’s South Bank.
Who can forget Morecambe & Wise, the Two Ronnies, Terry & June, Till Death Do Us Part and The Good Life? Dramas like the Forsyte Saga, Pennies from Heaven and When the Boat Comes In; music from Top of the Pops to the Last Night of the Proms; and the pageantry of Royal events. These were truly television’s ‘Golden Years’ but how these and many other great programmes were made, the situations and ‘characters’ involved, was often astounding and hilarious. Never has ‘you wouldn’t believe it’ been more appropriate!
