Ferring Probus Club talk by Ian Howard

After the September lunch members enjoyed a talk from Ian Howard, who is a volunteer speaker from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). By way of background, Ian explained that after three years in Surrey Infantry and a short stint in engineering, he answered an advert for the Fire service in which he worked for thirty years. His last shout before he retired was the disastrous fire at Clandon Park. Whilst still working, he trained as a Battlefield Tourist Guide as he was a lover of history, and after retirement responded to an advertisement from CWGC for volunteers to speak about their work.  

He explained the origin of CWGC was the Imperial War Graves Commission, which was strongly supported by Rudyard Kipling, who lost a son in the first World War but did not know where his body lay. At that time no bodies were repatriated to the UK and there were many thousands of missing soldiers. Years after Kipling's death his son's body was discovered and identified, which is one of the services offered by the Commission. It is still recovering and identifying an average of 36 bodies every year. The Commission helps to remember some 1.7 million servicemen and women, including 1.1 million headstones, all of which are to a standardised design. Originally every headstone was engraved by a stone mason and each one represented a week's work. Now, at the Commission's site in Arras, modern machinery enables gravestones to be engraved in a matter of minutes. He also told of how in the early days Gertrude Jekyll advised on planting schemes for the many sites that the Commission looks after, with plants linked to the nationalities of the persons remembered.

During his talk he showed pictures of some of the sites looked after, including the largest one at Tyne Cot, near Passchendaele, where there are 12,000 buried. It was through the Commission that the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was created in Westminster Abbey, and he quoted the fact that far more people visited to pay their respects to the unknown soldier when he was buried than did those who paid respect to our late Queen. The sheer scale of operations is perhaps demonstrated by the fact that across all the many sites 98 million square metres of grass is cut each year, the equivalent of 13,578 Wembley stadiums.

Seasons and Celebrations was the subject of the talk given by Joanna Bogle to Ferring Probus Club, at the Lunch on Wednesday 20th August.

Joanna is a writer, broadcaster and journalist, who has written several biographies but has taken a special interest in researching and writing about seasons and celebrations. At a time when several celebrations (such as Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day) have become very commercialised, Joanna reminded the group of the true meaning of such celebrations.

Among the many interesting facts drawn to our attention was that seasons in the Church are generally forty days (Christmas is forty days from Christmas Eve to Candlemas, Lent is forty days from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday prior to Easter and Easter Sunday to the feast of the Ascension). Long ago, in preparation for Easter meat, eggs and dairy products were given up. Rather than waste the eggs in the house, pancakes were made (thus we have Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day). Eggs laid during the Lent period were saved and used up at Easter (thus Easter Eggs and cakes). She told of how in some European Countries the birth of St. John the Baptist is celebrated on Midsummer’s Day with bonfires on mountain tops, and of a tradition in Austria that jumping over the fire is wishing for a good husband!  Another interesting fact Joanna shared was that the first Advent wreath in England was made on the children’s programme Blue Peter.

Joanna’s enthusiasm for the subject not only gave the members an enjoyable talk but we also became more appreciative and aware of the history behind many our celebrations.

Graham Feest, a UK based Road Safety Consultant, gave an interesting and enlightening talk at the August 2025 Coffee Morning on Transport, Traffic, Safety and Roads. Graham stated that cars do not crash into cars, it is the people behind the wheel who are responsible for a crash or collision – these are not accidents. He gave the group some interesting facts:

·  1 June 1935 the driving test was introduced.

·  In 1967 in Worthing there was only one set of traffic lights – at the junction of Mill Road and Heene Road.

·  In 1974 the Road Safety Act introduced significant reforms to road traffic laws, focusing on safety which included stricter drink-driving regulations and enhanced penalties for dangerous driving.

·  1983 the compulsory wearing of seat belts was introduced for drivers and front-seat passengers.

·  The 90s saw the introduction of traffic calming measures and Drink Drive Rehabilitation Schemes.

·  In the 2000s Speed Workshops were set up and an endeavour undertaken to make tomorrow’s roads safer for everyone.

·  In 2024 there were 128,375 casualties of all severities, a decline of 3% from 2023 and 1,633 fatalities, an increase of 1% to 2023.