Chairman of Westbury Probus, Bruce Hewitson, opened the meeting hoping that members had enjoyed their Easter. He then welcomed two guests to their first Probus meeting.
As this was a quarterly business meeting, minutes of the previous business meeting were read and accepted by the members. The key point was the change to the constitution to make payment for fees and subscription into a monthly standing order. The chairman stated that we, Probus, were now on a sound financial footing.
Three summer outings were announced and the first one confirmed to a Butterfly Farm in late June. The next quarterly luncheon will be at the Whitehorse Country Park late in May.
With business complete, we handed the floor over to our latest speaker Richard Cripps.
Richard talked very eloquently about life in on and around our brooks and streams, reminding us that as children it was a great place to go, fishing for sticklebacks, minnows and damming up the stream ‘ for fun! ‘ not to forget ‘Pooh Sticks!
He explained how important these rivulets and brooks were over the centuries and how much they have changed in more recent times. Apart from being a source of water they contained much wildlife, from brown trout down to tiny organisms and provided food for other species including the beautiful kingfisher and the water vole.
Much thought is now going into the management of water. It didn’t always. Richard explained that he visits a stream which largely relies on the clean water from a local effluent treatment works. The stream is thriving! As a fisherman he explained the need to keep these small rivers, the reed beds and water meadows flowing and not to cover the land with concrete or tarmac as, it appears, we have been doing.
After questions from the audience we gave Richard a rousing applause.
Bruce Hewitson announced the next meeting to be on 2nd May where the speaker will be Brian Barber. He then closed the meeting.
For more details visit www.probuswestbury.co.uk
