President Robert Somerville welomes
new members
Michael Miller-Jones, Michael Gilham and Greg Foster

I am pleased to present the club’s Annual Report for the year 2025/26, which I understand to be its 53rd year since being initiated by the Rotary Club in Folkestone on 26 June 1973, with the objective of “promoting good fellowship and friendship “.

2025/26 has been a successful year for the club in furthering that objective. Certainly, it has been a very busy year, with five new members joining the club. We hope that they - John Martin, Lindsey Page, Darren Minjoot, Andrew Sweetman and Michael Gilham - will enjoy their membership. They bring with them a wide range of interests and experiences to add to the club’s health and vitality. It is absolutely essential that we maintain our drive to recruit new members.

Our programme of talks has been wide-ranging and interesting. Four of our speakers were club members- either past (Carl Metha), present (Robert Somerville and David Ellerby) or future (Michael Gilham). All the talks were informative, some being historical and scientific in nature, others providing a valuable insight into law and order, whilst others told us about the invaluable work of charities, both local (the Rainbow Centre) and national (pancreatic cancer research). In November, Matthew Scott, the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner, gave us an excellent talk about his role, only for the government to announce the very next week that the role will be abolished in two years’ time! As yet, no evidence has come to light, linking his talk to Probus with the government’s decision to abolish the role of he and his colleagues. 

I am delighted to report that, thanks to the hard work of our Vice President, Robert Somerville, we now have an excellent and informative website. This includes news of our speakers, events and new members. This Annual Report will be posted on our website, along with details of our new committee and a photograph of the induction of Robert as our new president. My thanks to Ian Draper, who has been very diligent in taking all the photographs on the website and who has been very patient whenever the subjects asked him to delay taking his shot until they were sure that he was catching their best side. 

Sadly, we mourn the passing this year of four of our members- Brian Barnes, Richard Baulch, Alan Risley-Settle and John Sutton. Between them, they had been members for 57 years. Brian and Alan were past presidents. May they all rest in peace. 

Our relationship with the Hythe Ladies Probus club has developed strongly this year, in no small part thanks to their chairman, Bev Crouch. Many of their members attended our Christmas lunch and our ladies’ and partners’ lunch in June. Those of us who took up their invitation to attend one of their monthly lunches, with the improbably named but very enjoyable “Musical Bingo”, came away with a statistically disproportionate number of prizes, but we hope that this will not discourage our receiving future invitations.

I would like to close this report by thanking all members for their support and encouragement during my presidential year. I am especially grateful for all the work carried out throughout the year by our committee members, in particular Robert Somerville (Vice President), Harry Hoad (Secretary), John Grieg (Treasurer) and Hugh Barker (Dining Steward) and also thanks to Trevor Greening, who continues to organise our monthly coffee mornings. Finally, may I express thanks on behalf of the club, to past presidents Ian Draper and Ron Thompson who will be stepping down from the committee after their many years of excellent service, enthusiasm and expertise. 

It has been a pleasure and an honour to be your president this year. I know that Robert Somerville will maintain the momentum I have outlined in this report and I hope that he will have as much fun and satisfaction in the role as I have had. 

David Ellerby – President 2025/26