TWENTY members plus three guests attended the Wednesday, September 7 meeting of Crediton Probus Club at The Red Lion, Shobrooke.

Proceedings commenced, as usual, when grace was said. 

After lunch we all drank a bumper toast to HM The Queen (little knowing that it was to be the last time).

Barry Shears then read a humorous and apt quotation that was well received by all present.

The President reported the result of a survey of members’ views on the future location of meetings of the Club and advised that the Committee would be meeting to discuss the views and suggestions raised during the survey.

He said that all members would be given an opportunity to comment on any changes recommended by the Committee.

Birthday greetings were offered to those members who would be celebrating before the forthcoming meeting. The raffle was drawn and Don Nicholson was declared the winner.

Arthur Arscott introduced Bill Murray as our speaker for a talk that he had entitled “Growing up with Sir Winston Churchill”.  

Bill explained that his father was a policeman who had been appointed to ensure the security of Sir Winston Churchill.

The appointment started when Bill was a young boy and continued for many years and included the period after Sir Winston’s retirement.  We were told the implications that the appointment had on Bill and his family and heard snippets of encounters between Bill and Sir Winston or of visits to Sir Winston’s home in Kent.

The fascinating talk was illustrated with many pictures taken by Bill’s father, some of which showed Sir Winston following his passion for painting and which had more recently been used to authenticate the attribution of Sir Winston to certain paintings that had been included in a book about Sir Winston’s paintings.

Bill invited and answered a number of questions arising from his talk.

On behalf of the Club’s members Don Nicholson proposed a vote of thanks to the speaker and the proposal was adopted unanimously. The meeting was closed following a traditional  toast to “The next time”.

The Club usually meets on the first Tuesday in the month and any person interested in attending the meetings or joining the club is invited to contact the Secretary, Barry Shears, by emailing: [email protected] .

Richard Adams