News

Peter Swarbrick gave a captivating talk about the many ways our language has inherited terms originating from maritime activities. For example…

Taken Aback: A sailing term for wind pushing sails against the mast.
Bitter End: The final length of a rope or cable.
Cut and Run: Quickly cutting anchor cables to escape.
By and Large: A ship’s capability to sail both into and with the wind.
Chock-a-Block: Two pulley blocks tightened together.
Three Sheets to the Wind: A phrase for a drunkard, describing a ship with loose sail ropes.
Pipe Down: Signal from a boatswain to end the day.
Learn the Ropes: Sailors learning to manage the ship’s rigging.
Toe the Line: Sailors standing along a deck seam.
Groggy: Originating from “grog,” the watered-down rum served to sailors.
Show Your True Colours: Pirates hiding their identity before attacking.
Loose Cannon: A dangerous, unsecured cannon on deck.
Batten Down the Hatches: Securing ship hatches before a storm.
Clean Bill of Health: Certificate for a healthy ship crew.
Son of a Gun: A child born on a ship’s gun deck.
High and Dry: A vessel stranded out of the water.
At Loggerheads: Tools that became tangled in ship construction.
Skyscraper: A high, small sail for light winds.
Sling Your Hook: An order to leave or depart. 

And, as you can see, his talk had some of our members tied up in knots!

Graham Whalen gave a fascinating talk about the Titanic disaster and what came after. Not so much about the sinking itself – that has been well documented elsewhere. Instead Graham focussed on the human aspects of the story – the vessel, the people and the surviving materials.

Roger Hussey from Lancashire Constabulary visited to make us more aware of the ways that criminals will try to defraud, scam and use other means to get at our money and information. Not forgetting that they will also try to use us to move their money around – which is simply money laundering.

The Canary Girls is a memorial project dedicated to publicising and celebrating the role of women in the munitions industry during the two World Wars – with a firm intention of raising sufficient funds to establish a memorial honouring these women in the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

To learn more about the project, visit the Canary Girls website here.

For a couple of videos taken during Valerie’s talk, see our YouTube channel here.

Stepping in for our originally scheduled speaker, Vice President David Collins presented a talk about the history of Airtours – the holiday company from which he retired as IT Director.

Viki Cuthbertson visited us on 18 September 2025 to give us an introduction to beekeeping. In a fascinating talk she told us about different types of bees, how they are kept and the range of products that are derived from them – along with a warning that not all products (especially Manuka honey) are frequently mis-labelled.

She also gave a concerning warning about the spread of the Asian Hornet which can decimate bee populations.

We also have a short video from Viki’s talk at the Club’s YouTube page here.

Dave visited us on 6 March 2025 and created a fabulous picture, Grey Mountain, in the style of Bob Ross – who many of us will recall from the early days of satellite TV.

The images below show the development of the picture from a colourful background through to the finished article.

Dave gives all his talks for charity and at the end of the meeting sold the picture to one of our members – with the proceeds again going to charity

See Dave’s website at thepaintingpoliceman.co.uk for details of his paintings and workshops.

As we did in 2023, we enjoyed a couple of great visits during summer 2024. In April we visited Lancaster Castle, Lancashire Police Museum, Judges’ Lodgings/Museum of Childhood; and in June to Penny Farm Horse Welfare Centre near Blackpool.

Pictures from both visits can be found in the Gallery.

At our AGM in April 2024 members voted unanimously to a change of name from Preston Forum Probus Club to the shorter form of Preston Probus Club.

The Club had originally been founded as Preston Forum in 1974 and then, at the AGM in April 1998, we changed our name to Preston Forum Probus Club – a decision which was made to satisfy a requirement attached to obtaining insurance cover for the Club’s equipment stored at our meeting location.

Moving to present times – when we went through last summer’s marketing exercise distributing leaflets in the surrounding area, we discussed at length how our name would be perceived to potential new members. What did the word Forum mean in our name? It seemed to be fairly meaningless in terms of what we do.

9 November 2023 saw our annual Partners’ Lunch at The Italian Orchard – when some 37 or so members and guests were treeted to another excellent meal by their friendly staff.

See the gallery for a few pictures taken at the event.