AROUND 50 Probus members and their wives gathered at Downes Crediton Golf Club on a rainy November day (November 7) for our annual Ladies’ Lunch.

Grace was given by Barry Shears and after the meal, because it had taken rather longer to serve than normal (because of numbers), the rest of the schedule for the gathering had to be re-ordered as our speaker needed to get to another appointment, so her contribution was made before more mundane business matters.

She was introduced by our President, Gerald Hill.

He said the Right Reverend Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of Crediton had been Chief Nursing Officer for England before entering the priesthood.

Dame Sarah began by saying that although she was Bishop of Crediton, she lived in Tiverton (Bishop’s of Crediton formerly lived in Exeter Cathedral Close) – both towns were within the area for which she was responsible – North, Mid and East Devon (plus Exeter).

As a bishop she wears the rather ungainly mitre as a head covering, as a nurse she wore an equally ugly linen cap – she said that she wasn’t very comfortable in either.

Her (necessarily) brief talk concentrated on nursing and its future. She began by saying that as a leading nurse she learnt over time how to manage consultants, as a bishop she is, in a similar way, leaning how to manage canons, archdeacons and other senior clergy.

The common theme to the senior posts that she has held in both professions was that both jobs involve service to people.

She then gave the old quote: "You can take the nurse out of nursing, but not the nursing out of the nurse" and went on to say that she thought that compassion can seem to be lacking in modern nursing.

Compassion has been a vital part of nursing from the start.

Today’s young people seem to be less willing to enter professions like nursing that demand compassion and the nursing profession is thus a little in decline.

She finished by remembering Florence Nightingale, who first became famous during the Crimean War in the 1850’s.

She said that it is now thought that her efforts there had a overall negative impact on casualty figures.

More people died of infected wounds than from gunshot or shells. However, her later work using statistics to demonstrate how diseases spread, is still being used in the design of hospices and in other ways.

Bishop Sarah was presented with a bouquet by Louise Adams and thanked by Ken Down.

The quote was given by Don Nicholson, and the ladies’ raffle prize was won by Janet Macklan.

Thanks was given to Peter Bryan, John Marshall and Mary and Brian Threlfall for their work in organising the lunch and things concluded with a toast to absent friends.

KB