PROBUS is thought by some as no more than an acronym for Pathetic but Respectable Old Blokes Usually all at Sea, but that is far from the case, as Neil Richardson, chairman of Pershore Probus, told Gerry Barnett in the Pershore Club's 30th anniversary year:

MEMBERS of Pershore Probus are a group of like-minded, retired professional and business men who believe that retirement does not have to mean they are tied to a kitchen sink, an armchair or a vegetable patch.

"We miss a little the stimulus and comradeship of our working lives," said Neil Richardson. "The end of full-time employment should not mean the end of intelligent, friendly company."

Membership of the Pershore Club, founded in 1974, includes retired engineers, financial, production, marketing, advertising, human relations, educational, medical, scientific and technical, local and overseas government fields of endeavour.

Mr Richardson said: "Somebody once said that Probus has such a mix of senior talent that it could probably take over the world but our ambitions are much more modest and personal."

The first meeting of the club was on February 11 at the Three Tuns, Pershore, when a draft constitution was approved. Among the 19 members present was Lance Lancelot, who is still a member and who will be 95 this year. In 1976 the club moved to the Angel Hotel but it was found to be too small and so moved on to the Railway Inn.

Members meet every Monday morning for coffee at 10am at the Railway Inn at Defford. Either a member or a guest of his selection gives a talk or presentation on a subject that he thinks might be of interest, or that members ought to know more about.

Subjects of talks over the past year have included bridge design, the history of Birmingham University, telecommunications and mobile telephones, Cairo to Berlin 1939/45, a testing of French wines, Oxfam in Angola, social housing, early medieval manuscripts, the P & O Line and the ambulance service, as well as many accounts of impressive careers.

After each talk the bar is opened for a brief pre-prandial chat and members are back at home in time for lunch, except on the third Monday of the month when there is a first-class luncheon club to which wives or partners are invited.

"We are not an extension of any other organisation," Mr Richardson stressed. "We make our own rules to suit ourselves and our purposes. We are not a sort of ageing Rotary, though some of our members came from there, and we are not tied into the usual tiring round of money-making or charity support."

Every now and again the club organises outings for members and their wives to places of interest and to the theatre. During the last five years visits have included the Birmingham Jewellery quarter, Hook Norton Brewery, silversmiths in Chipping Campden, the Severn Valley Railway, Weston's Cider Mill and the Peugeot car factory in Coventry.

Anyone interested in joining should contact Neil Richardson on 01386 860541 or secretary Peter Myerscough on 01386 710590.