St Mary's Street Shops - Wallingford
Programme
If you would like to suggest a speaker, please complete this form and send to the Programme Secretary : [email protected]
Note: Red links will take you to the speakers website.
Note: Red links will take you to the speakers website.
7th January 2026 Tim Healey - Change of Speaker
Apples! The Myth and Mystery of England's Favourite Fruit
The advertised speaker is unexpectedly unavailable today and we are very lucky that Tim Healey is able to step in to talk to us at short notice. Tim is a freelance writer, broadcaster, and musician known for talks on English culture, history (like Oxford's St Giles Fair), and folklore. In particular, he may be known to some of you as the leader of Oxford Waits, who take their name from a real-life band of city musicians, known as 'waits,' who flourished in Oxford during the 17th century.
Tim will explore apples' rich cultural heritage, uncover links to myths and fertility, literature and much more. We are in for a real treat and some surprises!
Apples! The Myth and Mystery of England's Favourite Fruit
The advertised speaker is unexpectedly unavailable today and we are very lucky that Tim Healey is able to step in to talk to us at short notice. Tim is a freelance writer, broadcaster, and musician known for talks on English culture, history (like Oxford's St Giles Fair), and folklore. In particular, he may be known to some of you as the leader of Oxford Waits, who take their name from a real-life band of city musicians, known as 'waits,' who flourished in Oxford during the 17th century.
Tim will explore apples' rich cultural heritage, uncover links to myths and fertility, literature and much more. We are in for a real treat and some surprises!
4th February 2026 Dr Tony Hersh
A Day in the Life of a Magistrate
Tony Hersh has a medical background, running clinical trials for big pharmaceutical companies throughout his professional career. He has also been a Magistrate in North Hampshire for several years and will talk about court cases based on his experience. As well as the history of the Magistrate’s role there will be discussion of some real cases he has faced in court. We, the audience, will discuss and decide the appropriate sentences, before he explains what actual sentence was given by the Court and why. Will we be right or wrong? Prepare to be challenged!
A Day in the Life of a Magistrate
Tony Hersh has a medical background, running clinical trials for big pharmaceutical companies throughout his professional career. He has also been a Magistrate in North Hampshire for several years and will talk about court cases based on his experience. As well as the history of the Magistrate’s role there will be discussion of some real cases he has faced in court. We, the audience, will discuss and decide the appropriate sentences, before he explains what actual sentence was given by the Court and why. Will we be right or wrong? Prepare to be challenged!
4th March 2026 Alastair Dick-Cleland
Rescuing Ruins: the work of the Landmark Trust
Alastair has worked since 1996 for the Landmark Trust, one of the UK’s largest, and longest established building preservation trusts. His current role is as Project Development Manager. He read Experimental Psychology at Oxford and then spent 10 years in several different roles within the John Lewis Partnership (including as a food buyer for Waitrose and running the mushroom farm on the Leckford Estate). But with his love of historic buildings undiminished, he changed career and studied architecture and the building arts at the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture, followed by a post-graduate diploma in building conservation at the College of Estate Management, part of Reading University. He has worked in several different departments at Landmark including many years in the Historic Estate Department managing a significant number of new restoration projects. He now works as part of the History department concentrating on assessing potential future Landmarks.
Alastair will give us an overview the work of the Landmark Trust, one of the UK’s largest building preservation trusts founded back in 1965. He will tell us about how the Trust came to be, how it operates and about some of the Trust’s many restoration projects.
Rescuing Ruins: the work of the Landmark Trust
Alastair has worked since 1996 for the Landmark Trust, one of the UK’s largest, and longest established building preservation trusts. His current role is as Project Development Manager. He read Experimental Psychology at Oxford and then spent 10 years in several different roles within the John Lewis Partnership (including as a food buyer for Waitrose and running the mushroom farm on the Leckford Estate). But with his love of historic buildings undiminished, he changed career and studied architecture and the building arts at the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture, followed by a post-graduate diploma in building conservation at the College of Estate Management, part of Reading University. He has worked in several different departments at Landmark including many years in the Historic Estate Department managing a significant number of new restoration projects. He now works as part of the History department concentrating on assessing potential future Landmarks.
Alastair will give us an overview the work of the Landmark Trust, one of the UK’s largest building preservation trusts founded back in 1965. He will tell us about how the Trust came to be, how it operates and about some of the Trust’s many restoration projects.
1st April 2026 Martina Platts
Huntley and Palmers in World War II
In 1938, Reading-based biscuit and cake company Huntley & Palmers made 360 kinds of biscuit and had 3,100 factory employees, the town's largest employer. By 1943 just twenty varieties remained, and the headcount had dramatically dropped to 1,050. Martina will talk about the extent of the changes made by Huntley & Palmers' management and employees, particularly women, in reaction to government wartime priorities on rationing, and the release of labour, factory space and transport to the war effort. This is set in the context of wartime food austerity, and government policies on distribution zoning and production concentration which saw Huntley & Palmers threatened with closure in 1942. Having survived this, post-war, did the directors learn the lessons of the changes they made?
Our own Wallingford Thames Ladies Probus member, Martina Cooper joined the club in 2016. The talk is based on her dissertation for an MA with Distinction which she was awarded by the Open University in 2024. Since retiring, Martina has graduated with a BA in History (First Class) and, a glutton for punishment, is now working on another degree, which includes International Relations.
Huntley and Palmers in World War II
In 1938, Reading-based biscuit and cake company Huntley & Palmers made 360 kinds of biscuit and had 3,100 factory employees, the town's largest employer. By 1943 just twenty varieties remained, and the headcount had dramatically dropped to 1,050. Martina will talk about the extent of the changes made by Huntley & Palmers' management and employees, particularly women, in reaction to government wartime priorities on rationing, and the release of labour, factory space and transport to the war effort. This is set in the context of wartime food austerity, and government policies on distribution zoning and production concentration which saw Huntley & Palmers threatened with closure in 1942. Having survived this, post-war, did the directors learn the lessons of the changes they made?
Our own Wallingford Thames Ladies Probus member, Martina Cooper joined the club in 2016. The talk is based on her dissertation for an MA with Distinction which she was awarded by the Open University in 2024. Since retiring, Martina has graduated with a BA in History (First Class) and, a glutton for punishment, is now working on another degree, which includes International Relations.
6th May 2026 Dr Stephen Goss
From Domesday Book to listening for doomsday:
Caversham Park’s 930 years at the centre of history
First recorded in the post-Norman invasion Domesday Book, Caversham Park in Reading has played a surprisingly central role in English, British and international history for nearly a millennium. It was the seat of the so-called ‘best knight whoever lived’, who was related to the man who brought about the English conquest of Ireland. The Manor of Caversham was embroiled in the Reformation and owned by cousins of Elizabeth I and Caversham Park both entertained the first two Stuart Kings and became a prison for Charles I. Learn about its role in the Glorious Revolution, and its connexions to the American War of Independence.
The estate became a refuge in the First World War and was taken over by the BBC during the Second. Hear how it became a centre for intelligence throughout the Second World War, the Cold War and the ‘War on Terror’. This talk reveals how an estate on the north bank of the Thames was a surprising tour de force in global events from the Norman Conquest to the threat of Soviet annihilation.
Dr Stephen Goss is a former lecturer in history at Queen’s University Belfast and Life-long Learning lecturer at Stranmillis University College. A published academic, his area of focus is 19th and 20th Century British and Irish history with a specialism in the Cold War. He also has a passion for local history and interpreting it within the context of national and international events.
From Domesday Book to listening for doomsday:
Caversham Park’s 930 years at the centre of history
First recorded in the post-Norman invasion Domesday Book, Caversham Park in Reading has played a surprisingly central role in English, British and international history for nearly a millennium. It was the seat of the so-called ‘best knight whoever lived’, who was related to the man who brought about the English conquest of Ireland. The Manor of Caversham was embroiled in the Reformation and owned by cousins of Elizabeth I and Caversham Park both entertained the first two Stuart Kings and became a prison for Charles I. Learn about its role in the Glorious Revolution, and its connexions to the American War of Independence.
The estate became a refuge in the First World War and was taken over by the BBC during the Second. Hear how it became a centre for intelligence throughout the Second World War, the Cold War and the ‘War on Terror’. This talk reveals how an estate on the north bank of the Thames was a surprising tour de force in global events from the Norman Conquest to the threat of Soviet annihilation.
Dr Stephen Goss is a former lecturer in history at Queen’s University Belfast and Life-long Learning lecturer at Stranmillis University College. A published academic, his area of focus is 19th and 20th Century British and Irish history with a specialism in the Cold War. He also has a passion for local history and interpreting it within the context of national and international events.
3rd June 2026 Speaker tbc
Biobank - Enabling scientific discoveries that improve public health
Many of our Probus members may be Biobank participants and this talk will help us understand how health care is being changed by discoveries made with participants’ data.
Data drives discovery and UK Biobank’s unique, biomedical database, the largest, most detailed and most widely accessible of its kind, is enabling the global research community to make scientific discoveries that improve public health. Biobank follows the lives of half a million volunteers to learn who falls ill and why, so scientists around the world can create better ways to diagnose, prevent and treat diseases for everyone, everywhere. Researchers worldwide use the data, tools and support to make discoveries which otherwise wouldn’t be possible.
Biobank - Enabling scientific discoveries that improve public health
Many of our Probus members may be Biobank participants and this talk will help us understand how health care is being changed by discoveries made with participants’ data.
Data drives discovery and UK Biobank’s unique, biomedical database, the largest, most detailed and most widely accessible of its kind, is enabling the global research community to make scientific discoveries that improve public health. Biobank follows the lives of half a million volunteers to learn who falls ill and why, so scientists around the world can create better ways to diagnose, prevent and treat diseases for everyone, everywhere. Researchers worldwide use the data, tools and support to make discoveries which otherwise wouldn’t be possible.
1st July 2026 John McCormick
Are computers really that smart? Why AI needs good decision-making processes
Born in Australia, John McCormick has lived in the UK for over 20 years and spent all his career in the IT management and consulting industry. AI is thus a familiar topic to him because it’s been around for longer than most people realise. In his talk John will take us through a pragmatic view of this important issue covering the importance of effective decision making in Artificial Intelligence design and considering what he thinks we should do, and not do, about it. This is bound to be an enlightening talk on a subject which is far from our usual experience and which, while it can seem rather daunting, is also very exciting.
No one needs to worry about this being too technical however - it will be explained in lay-person’s terms! We’ll all be front and centre in helping to answer the question in the talk’s title because this will be a very collaborative effort with extensive audience participation!
Are computers really that smart? Why AI needs good decision-making processes
Born in Australia, John McCormick has lived in the UK for over 20 years and spent all his career in the IT management and consulting industry. AI is thus a familiar topic to him because it’s been around for longer than most people realise. In his talk John will take us through a pragmatic view of this important issue covering the importance of effective decision making in Artificial Intelligence design and considering what he thinks we should do, and not do, about it. This is bound to be an enlightening talk on a subject which is far from our usual experience and which, while it can seem rather daunting, is also very exciting.
No one needs to worry about this being too technical however - it will be explained in lay-person’s terms! We’ll all be front and centre in helping to answer the question in the talk’s title because this will be a very collaborative effort with extensive audience participation!
5th August Kamran Irani
Blood, Bikers and Babies: the work of SERV OBN
Kamran is the Chairman of the most amazing charity you have never heard of! The charity is SERV OBN: Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers and this group covers Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. Entirely staffed by volunteers they provide an out of hours, rapid response motorbike courier service for NHS hospitals across our region, delivering urgent blood, blood products, medical supplies, medical equipment, and human donor milk, during the times when other transport options to the NHS may be limited, such as every night, weekends, and public holidays. They provide the service using a fleet of liveried motorcycles. The service is provided free of charge to the NHS.
After the talk, our Ladies Probus group will be making a modest donation to the charity at the meeting and if appropriate, members may feel they would like to add a personal donation.
Blood, Bikers and Babies: the work of SERV OBN
Kamran is the Chairman of the most amazing charity you have never heard of! The charity is SERV OBN: Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers and this group covers Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. Entirely staffed by volunteers they provide an out of hours, rapid response motorbike courier service for NHS hospitals across our region, delivering urgent blood, blood products, medical supplies, medical equipment, and human donor milk, during the times when other transport options to the NHS may be limited, such as every night, weekends, and public holidays. They provide the service using a fleet of liveried motorcycles. The service is provided free of charge to the NHS.
After the talk, our Ladies Probus group will be making a modest donation to the charity at the meeting and if appropriate, members may feel they would like to add a personal donation.
2nd September 2026 Rachel Pettit-Smith
A History of Pettits of Wallingford
Situated in the market town of Wallingford in Oxfordshire, Pettits Department Store was established on 6th March 1856 by Mr William Pettit who came from Newmarket, where his father was a saddle maker. This illustrated talk will tell the story of the store’s place in Wallingford’s history. One of the largest and oldest businesses in Wallingford, the store remained in the Pettit family until 1987 when it was sold to the Rowse family, another local family firm well known for its honey production.
Rachel Pettit-Smith has lived in Wallingford all her life and has been involved in the business all that time. Her father and grandfather were at the helm when she was a child and she has seen a lot of changes over the years and shopping too has changed with all the old family firms disappearing but Wallingford is still thriving and is a great community to be part of. She has a great story to tell.
A History of Pettits of Wallingford
Situated in the market town of Wallingford in Oxfordshire, Pettits Department Store was established on 6th March 1856 by Mr William Pettit who came from Newmarket, where his father was a saddle maker. This illustrated talk will tell the story of the store’s place in Wallingford’s history. One of the largest and oldest businesses in Wallingford, the store remained in the Pettit family until 1987 when it was sold to the Rowse family, another local family firm well known for its honey production.
Rachel Pettit-Smith has lived in Wallingford all her life and has been involved in the business all that time. Her father and grandfather were at the helm when she was a child and she has seen a lot of changes over the years and shopping too has changed with all the old family firms disappearing but Wallingford is still thriving and is a great community to be part of. She has a great story to tell.
7th October 2026 Dr Jane Sellwood
Man flu, bird flu, seasonal flu – is Covid now a ‘flu’?
Members will remember Dr Jane Selwood’s excellent and well-illustrated talk on water last year and she’s returning to bring us up to date on another important topic, viruses.
Jane is a retired Clinical Scientist employed by the Health Protection Agency (now called UK Health Security Agency) and was based at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. She was Consultant Clinical Virologist for the diagnostic virology laboratory and led research in the national Water Virology Unit. Research projects involving collaboration with European laboratories focused on developing novel methods for the detection of viruses and surveying the content of sewage, fresh and marine water. This background has led to a current wider appreciation of national and global health issues amid the climate crisis.
Jane is also a member of Reading u3a and Convenor of the Science Group
Man flu, bird flu, seasonal flu – is Covid now a ‘flu’?
Members will remember Dr Jane Selwood’s excellent and well-illustrated talk on water last year and she’s returning to bring us up to date on another important topic, viruses.
Jane is a retired Clinical Scientist employed by the Health Protection Agency (now called UK Health Security Agency) and was based at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. She was Consultant Clinical Virologist for the diagnostic virology laboratory and led research in the national Water Virology Unit. Research projects involving collaboration with European laboratories focused on developing novel methods for the detection of viruses and surveying the content of sewage, fresh and marine water. This background has led to a current wider appreciation of national and global health issues amid the climate crisis.
Jane is also a member of Reading u3a and Convenor of the Science Group
4th November 2026 Johnathon Stamp
The Lost Library of Herculaneum - Villa of the Papyri
The ‘Villa of the Papyri’, unearthed in 1750 during excavations at Herculaneum on the Bay of Naples, was the richest privately owned Roman villa ever discovered. Even more importantly, it was also the site of the only library from the ancient world ever to be found in situ - from which it derives its current name.
This will be a talk exploring the extraordinary story of the Villa's excavation. It will focus on recent game-changing scientific breakthroughs, (some achieved at the local Harwell Science and Innovation Campus), that suggest the papyrus scrolls found in the Villa could finally be read in their entirety, after more than two and a half centuries spent trying. It will also investigate the tantalising possibility that there are more scrolls still to be found in a yet un-excavated part of the Villa.
Jonathon, a Classicist, is a journalist, producer, and writer.
The Lost Library of Herculaneum - Villa of the Papyri
The ‘Villa of the Papyri’, unearthed in 1750 during excavations at Herculaneum on the Bay of Naples, was the richest privately owned Roman villa ever discovered. Even more importantly, it was also the site of the only library from the ancient world ever to be found in situ - from which it derives its current name.
This will be a talk exploring the extraordinary story of the Villa's excavation. It will focus on recent game-changing scientific breakthroughs, (some achieved at the local Harwell Science and Innovation Campus), that suggest the papyrus scrolls found in the Villa could finally be read in their entirety, after more than two and a half centuries spent trying. It will also investigate the tantalising possibility that there are more scrolls still to be found in a yet un-excavated part of the Villa.
Jonathon, a Classicist, is a journalist, producer, and writer.