Social Events

Music Group

The Music Group is organised by Jeff Bulow and meets on the third Friday of the month through the year, except August, with different members giving a presentation of their choice of music.

Walking and Lunch Group

Local walks are occasionally planned, usually about 4 miles, followed by a pub lunch with the Lunch Club – see below. Details appear on the notice board at meetings.

Lunch Club

This meets monthly through the year for a pub lunch at 12.15 at various venues in the area, on the second Friday of the month, organised by Bernard Brownhill. Details appear on the notice board at meetings.

Dates for your Diary

Trips out to come….. Social events to come….. Followed by a summary history of Recent trips and Recent social events.

Trips out to come

See the notice board at meetings for booking details.

Tuesday 2nd June 2020 Joint Probus trip with Coventry Electricity Long Service Association, to Savill Garden Windsor. Coach leaves the Memorial Park at 09:00. After the trip to the Gardens there will be a two-hour River Thames cruise starting from the Runneymede Boat House complete with a cream tea. Lunch can be purchased at the Gardens if required. Cost £42pp.

Tuesday 8th September 2020 Joint Probus trip with Coventry Electricity Long Service Association, to Gloucester and Warwickshire Steam Railway. Coach leaves the Memorial Park at 09:00 for a trip on the railway leaving from Cheltenham Racecourse to the newly opened Broadway Station. You can alight at the intervening stations if you wish but you must get back to the Racecourse by 16:10. The coach will leave at 16:30 for the return trip to Coventry. Cost £30pp

Social Events to Come

2020 Spring Dinner – This dinner for March 26 has been cancelled because of the coronavirus situation. The treasurer is arranging to refund all those who have paid.

Recent Trips

February 2020 A return visit to the Triumph Motorcycles Tour.

Sixteen Probus members, guests and friends attended the Triumph Motorcycles Tour in Hinckley on 12 February. This started with complementary tea and coffee. The Tour is chargeable but the Visitor centre has free admission and covers Triumph’s history from past to present. “All Triumph motorcycles and accessories were designed, prototyped, developed and tested by our dedicated teams. From initial sketch to final assembly, each component of every motorcycle is precision-engineered for the perfect ride, and typically each new motorcycle undergoes six major stages of design and development. This exacting process enables them to set the very highest of standards in precision, craft and engineering. This takes thousands of hours of design and development – and it’s how every Triumph begins its life.”

On the 1.5 hour tour the attendees were very ably guided by Simon and we saw every operation of the production from initial design to final production motorcycle, a process that typically takes 3 years. We saw how the factory works and the production line with bikes being built. Everyone agreed that it was very enjoyable and interesting visit. Following the Tour, 11 adjourned to a favourite Probus watering hole, the Dog and Hedgehog at Dadlington, close to the factory. As usual this was excellent and a good time was had by all.

November 2019: Visit to the Triumph motorcycle factory in Hinckley. This was very impressive on all counts: guide, site, company, factory processes and technology. The reception has a display of historic Triumph bikes and engines. Staff are 2500 global, 900 here, this is number 3 of 5 factories, the main other one is in Thailand and lots of exchange of items takes place. They ship knock down kits for assembly in Brazil, 1700 parts in a box. Bikes go out on steel pallettes, wrapped in polythene or cardboard depending on couriers. The total ouput of all factories is 16,000 bikes a year. Our guide was a retired finance industry man who loves Triumph bikes and does this to keep him occupied. We followed with a convivial lunch at the George and Dragon in Stoke Golding.

September 2019: Visit to Bristol to the SS Great Britain. An excellently preserved ship and well presented in its dry dock, allowing inspection under the ship. An impressive site, rich in history. The visit included lunch on board and a tour of the dockside museums.

July 2019: Visit to Amazon fulfillment centre in Coventry. 27 Coventry Probus members, partners, friends and associated groups attended the Amazon Fulfilment Centre tour at Lions Park, Coventry (BHX4). This site has only been operational in the last year. Of the 22 fulfilment centres in the UK, this one and Dunfermline are the only two in the UK that take in deliveries from suppliers and feed them into the Amazon worldwide network. The group saw many of the processes being performed and the tour group agreed that it had been a very interesting and informative tour.

June 2019: Members shared with another group for a coach trip to Highgrove for a guided tour of the gardens, then a short visit to Corinium Roman Museum at Cirencester,

On 19th February 2019, members and guests visited the JCB factory at Uttoxeter. Keith Taylor submitted the following article to the Probus magazine:

Twenty five members and guests of Coventry Probus Club enjoyed a wonderful day-out visiting the world headquarters of JCB at Rocester, Staffordshire, near Uttoxeter.

Arriving mid-morning they were treated to coffee and biscuits followed by an introductory film: “The Story of JCB” and then a two hour escorted tour of the product display area and the production facilities –“ plates of steel turned into full blown JCB’s before our very eyes”! This was followed by a splendid lunch.

In 1945 JCB was started in a small lock-up garage (12ft X 15ft) by Joseph Cyril Bamford, manufacturing mechanical farm equipment – he sold a tipping trailer for £45 in October 1945. It was made from steel salvaged from air-raid shelters and can be seen in the product display area to this day. Three years later, he started making tipping trailers powered by a hydraulic piston and the business took off. Today, JCB owns 22 plants around the world yet continues to operate as a family business.

October 2018 – International Space Centre in Leicester, and the adjacent grand Victorian building, the Abbey Pumping Station with its massive decorated steam beam engines.

September 2018 – The WW2 Western Approaches Museum in Liverpool, from where the Allies conduct of the Atlantic war was controlled.

June 2018 – A cruise on the River Severn in Shrewsbury, including lunch at Ye Olde Punch Bowl near Bridgnorth.

May 2018 – An afternoon visit to the Guide Dogs National Breeding Centre near Bishops Tachbrook.

Recent Social Events

December 2019: Carol Service with a Salvation Army Band at St Martin in the Fields Church, Coventry, with guests invited from local Probus groups.

November 2019: Committee Annual Lunch at Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club.

September 2019: Probus annual autumn dinner at Finham Golf Club.

July 2019: Annual Probus BBQ. Terry & Sheila Onions kindly invited Members of Coventry Probus Club and their Partners (and Guests) to join them for the Probus Club Annual Barbeque Lunch at their home “The Roundhouse” in Fillongley, Visitors cooked their own meat or fish and enjoyed excellent accompaniments and wonderful desserts. This is always one of the highlights of the calendar and was a very successful event with the weather being very kind to us again.

8 May 2019: Charles Hanson talk and valuation event. This included a buffer and an antiques quiz, with many interesting items to identify in teams. Charles is well known from Bargain Hunt, Flog It!! and Antiques Road Trip. He gave an excellent talk and then assessments of value for items brought by visitors.

Past Spring Dinner