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A Brief History of Probus Since 1965
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One of the first clubs was formed by the Rotary Club of Welwyn Garden City, with Fred Carhill as the driving force. When he retired he occasionally used to meet a few other retired friends for morning coffee, with professional and business backgrounds with lots of experience behind them. There were many men in the area with similar backgrounds. This gave him the idea of starting a luncheon club. He phoned some of his friends and all were agreeable. The Rotary Club President arranged the first meeting and 45 men attended. So the first flub was born. The first club was called the Campus Club, and the name was selected from the fact that the meeting place was facing the centre of the town called ‘The Campus’. The Rotary District took up the scheme with the result that Rotary International, At about the same time in September 1965 Harold Blanchard of the Caterham Rotary Club retired and in trying to be helpful got under his wife’s feet in the kitchen. His wife is reputed to have made the comment to the effect that she was grateful when he attended Rotary lunch once a week and added “Why can’t you do something for the wives of retired men who are not Rotarians?” He too saw the need for something for retired businessmen who did not have the same opportunities or inclination for social contacts in the district due to the hours spent commuting and working out of the area. The members of the Rotary Club decided to organise a monthly lunch to enable them to meet for fellowship and social activities in their own club. The Rotary Club decided to publicise their proposals and called a meeting for all retired professional and businessmen aged 60 and over living in the local area, in February 1966, and 42 prospective members turned up. A monthly lunch was arranged so that the men could widen their range of acquaintances. At the initial meeting it was agreed to a monthly luncheon, and it was suggested that as individuals were virtual strangers to each other it would be advisable if the Rotary Club President took the chair so that the members of the new club could get to know each other a little before electing their own officers and drawing up simple rules. The inaugural luncheon of the first Probus Club anywhere in the world took place on 2nd March 1966 and in May of that year a Committee was formed under the Chairmanship of the late Harold Blanchard who is now accepted as the ‘Father Figure’ of Probus. It was felt that members had suffered too many rules and regulations during their working lives and for this reason very simple Probus Club rules were adopted. The Chairman should serve for one year only and Committee members on average only occupy their posts for two years. This encouraged volunteers to come forward and helped to ensure a continual current of fresh ideas in the club. Members were asked for a name for the club. One member came up with the idea of ‘Probus’ taking the first three letters from ‘PROfessional and BUSiness’. He assured everyone that Probus was a Latin word from which ‘Prohibity’ was derived and the new name was adopted with enthusiasm. The success of the Probus Club of Caterham very soon became known among neighbouring Rotary Clubs and the whole concept being so simple sprang up everywhere. There is no central world body but there are over 1700 clubs in Each club is autonomous, making its own rules and decisions about time, place and regularity of meetings, and the format that these gatherings follow. All the clubs follow the original ideals of providing a gathering of like minded retired people who want to extend their circle of friends, and because of its simple philosophy Probus is growing at a tremendous rate for both men and women, and in some cases, of mixed gender.
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