President’s letter September 2023
Kelvin Probus Club has been active in the West of Glasgow since 1989. Originally a club for men-only it became enlightened in 2017 with the admittance of lady members. Its membership numbers now hover around the 100 mark with about 20 lady members. With numbers dropping during the pandemic, I am pleased to say that we may have to operate a waiting list in the coming year.
The Club affords an opportunity for good conversation, intellectual stimulus and the chance to widen our circle of friends. It does this through regular meetings when we can listen to and contribute to fascinating discussions led by experts and enjoy companionable walks and outings to places of interest and other events.
Kelvin Probus meets at the Hillhead Sports Club at 33 Hughenden Road, Glasgow G12 9XP, close to the ‘centre of gravity’ of the membership. If you live West of the River Kelvin and North of the Clyde and are a retired professional, business or academic person, male or female, there is a warm welcome waiting for you at the Club. On the second and fourth Tuesday of each month from September through to May, we meet at 11 a.m. for tea and coffee followed by a talk or presentation at 11:30 am on a wide and stimulating range of subjects followed by a Q & A session. Members may then stay on for a sociable lunch of soup and sandwiches at a cost of £6.00 provided by Café Source Too with access to the bar, should anyone wish to have a drink. The meetings include a Christmas lunch with our partners or friends which is the highlight of our season for many.
On the intervening Tuesdays of each month we have a group walk of 4 to 5 miles or a guided visit normally accessed by public transport which usually visits a local hostelry at some stage along the route.
Our programme of talks for the previous year, 2022/23 was very interesting and wide-ranging covering the Antarctic wastes to the Silk Road, the history of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to the potential future of Glasgow, climate change and a vision of Scotland in 2070 with health, education and baroque music thrown in for good measure.
The annual subscription is a modest £40 per head which covers all Tuesday meetings, inside and outside. If you are interested and do not know any Probus members, we would be delighted to hear from you via our Secretary Valerie Kaye (ValKaye46@gmail.com and telephone 07709330727) who will be pleased to invite you to a taster event. Indeed, members are encouraged to invite friends and acquaintances, whether as potential members or because they are attracted by the topic of the day. This will allow you to savour the atmosphere and ethos of the Club before deciding whether or not you wish to apply for membership formally.
You should note that we have an active web page – access www.kelvinprobus.org – which has details of the venue, programme, constitution, application form, meetings, walks and other social events, news, office bearers and summaries of our talks, all of which will give you a better understanding of what Probus offers.
We hope that you are sufficiently intrigued to read further and perhaps to contact our Secretary; you will be most welcome.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur Allison
President 2023/24