Club News
July Lunch:
Chairman, Andrew Carver, welcomed 20 members and our guest speaker Steve Bird. £40 was raised for the Chairman’s Charity, Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The raffle raised £28.
News of Members:
Bill Ainsworth has had a fall. John Morgan has emphysema. Martyn Pyle has long Covid.
Birthdays in August:
Bill Ainsworth, David Carpenter, Graham Davis, Brian Morris, John Pendleton.
Outings/Events:
Skittles match with Sanderstead and Riddlesdown Probus Tuesday 23rd September – includes light lunch. Please Contact Terry Ribbens on tribbs42@gmail.com.
Speaker today:
Member Paul Sandford ‘The Bourne Society’.
4th September 2025:
Andre Potocki ‘Roald Dahl’.
Welfare Officer:
Please contact Tony Farrell if anyone knows of a member in difficulty.
Lunch changes
by 10.30am the prior Tuesday. Please email vincent@fosdike.com with articles for the Newsletter.
July Guest Speaker: Steve Bird ‘Wellington’s Military Career’
Members were delighted to welcome back Steve for another talk on a significant period of military history; Arthur Wellesley, born in 1769 (the same year as Napoleon), in Ireland, was the fifth son of 1st Earl of Mornington.
He was found unsuitable at Eton College and instead was sent to a military academy in France and was subsequently appointed aide-de camp to the Irish viceroy. Arthur then held a seat in the Irish Parliament, and though in debt, he proposed to Kitty Pakenham but was rejected by her brother. In fact, he was later to be rejected a second time. During this period, he abandoned a carefree lifestyle (including disposing of his violin) to concentrate on his military career. As a lieutenant colonel he then saw service in Flanders where British forces were beaten by the French, and where crucially Arthur learned from his superiors’ mistakes. In fact, he became secretive about his military plans throughout his career and was reluctant to delegate.
In 1796 he was posted to India, followed by his brother Richard as Viceroy. After a number of victories, notably at Assaye in 1803, he developed qualities such as looking after his soldiers and their supplies, in fact paying them each day (rather than weekly), attention to detail and using common sense, returning to England with a knighthood.
In the same year (1805) he briefly met Lord Nelson and in 1806 he married Kitty, but the marriage was not a happy one. He became an MP, and in 1808 beat a small Danish force, followed by promotion to Lt. General.
In 1808 the Portuguese rose up against Napoleon, and Wellesley was ordered to support them and ended up on the Iberian Peninsula for six years. There followed a number of battles which he mainly won and was promoted to Viscount Wellington. He had secretly fortified the lines of Torres Vedras enabling a decisive victory at Bussaco. Wellington also defeated the French at Salamanca but his siege of Burgos was a disaster. However, he beat the French at Vitoria where the enemy are believed to have left all their cannons, bar one. The Peninsular War in effect ended with the capture of Toulouse. Already a marquess and field marshal, Arthur was created a duke and with the gift of £500,000 from the nation, he subsequently bought Stratfield Saye house in Hampshire.
Wellington took the place of the foreign secretary at the Congress of Vienna but at this time Napoleon escaped from Elba to France. Britain allied itself with Prussia and the joint forces and significantly beat Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. The Prince Regent later claimed that he was present at Waterloo, and Wellington is cunningly purported to have replied, ‘I have heard you say so’!
Of course, Wellington went on to be prime minister, foreign secretary and to hold a number of other positions of note. He died in 1852 at Walmer Castle, the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports – his final post.
The duke was afforded a monumental state funeral, the carriage bearing his coffin having been forged from captured French canons. Unfortunately, that day there were a number of mishaps caused by cold weather and the funeral service in St. Paul’s Cathedral was delayed for a considerable time resulting in an unpleasant aroma due to the lack of sanitary arrangements. Clearly there is so much more that can be written on Wellington’s military, personal life and later political life, but Steve’s résumé of the great man’s military career was absorbing and very well received. Thank you, Steve.
Oh to be young again by Vincent Fosdike
I had just moved on from my last firm where part of my salary was given in luncheon vouchers. Being junior I was expected to receive this honorarium with due grace and spend it wisely at the only establishment which still took them near the firm (a Chinese restaurant).
I had used my very last voucher, and said farewell to my first firm. I now regret spending the voucher as I could have explained to my grandchildren how the economy worked in those times before payment by card and in the silence of an eatery untroubled by the jabber of mobile phones. But on reflection it might not have held their attention.
Two weeks latter for the first time in my life I had my own office (name on the door) plus secretary in the outer office.
My new Iron Master liked to carry all before him in a flurry of forceful self belief supported by a permanent glare!
Having escaped a career in teaching from which, like John Betjeman, I never looked back on, I resolved not to get bogged down in conveyancing, trusts, or even worse matrimonial work (then he said she said merry go round and fights over who got the cat).
So litigation it was The Iron Master burst into my room glowing with aggression.
“I want this done today and don’t just make noises in front of the judge – WIN IT!”
He threw down a sparsely typed note and stormed back to his den.
Normally litigation has a degree of structure, pace and comes with a bourgeoning file full of interim orders covered in court seals and bound in the beloved pink ribbon.
At least this was a couple of rungs up from the Luncheon Voucher ladder of gentle “perhaps you could look at this sometime Vince”?
My secretary had come to my aid explaining that the lady named on the paper was known to the firm and was already heading for our office.
No info. Speculation is a dangerous game in litigation. I could well be in for a serious knock down in round one at that firm. I might be back begging for my luncheon vouchers at the old place.
WIN IT! (I wondered if I would dare to come back if I did not perform!)
A Churchillian order ‘sink the Bismarck’ (but first find it).
Reception called to say the client was now waiting, and on the other line, a booming voice was telling me to use whatever I needed in the way of staff – no expense spared and he would pay speeding fines but not to lose my dam licence! It was 09:10.
“O.K. Jan, show her in”. A shaken lady bearing the marks of a domestic incident sat across the desk. So it must be an emergency hearing before a judge in chambers (ex parte the assailant). We would need a JUDGE! Instructions to Jan: 1. Phone all the courts I could reach in the day and try for an appointment. 2. Standby for me to dictate the affidavit. 3. Get the client cleaned up but leave a little blood for the right effect. 4. Book service agents to deliver the order I was hoping to get and deliver it at least to the local police.
Clearly the best outcome would be an order with power of arrest, not technically possible if the defendant was not in court, and we could not do this in time.
Jan got a judge willing to wait till just after 15:10 – I thought we might do it + speeding tickets. It was a fast drive right at the max the car could do. It nearly all went wrong in the last half mile as the brakes had got so hot that they threw in the towel on the turn off from the motorway. Thank goodness there was nothing on the roundabout at the end of the slip road. We made it right on the time. I did my best plea voice loaded with compassion whilst hoping the client had not been over restored. One would never know whether the judge gave me the order I wanted in error or used the Nelson approach re power of arrest. The order reached the police before I went home. The most ironic part was that the injuries were due to another women making evil use of a bicycle!
By the time I got back to the office the boss had left his den and never spoke of the matter (not even a luncheon voucher in a brown envelope) but that was his way.
Another day another dollar!