Ashtead and Leatherhead Probus

24/08/2026

Our summer meeting was held on 17 August as usual at Tyrrells Wood and after an excellent three course lunch our speaker, Stephen Chater, spoke about Stony Jack and the Cheapside Hoard.
Few people today know about this most spectacular discovery of jewels that had ever been discovered in London in one location in 1912. 0ver 500 items of exceptional 17th jewellery were in the hoard. Value uncountable.
The reason these items were saved for the nation was due to an interesting character called Stony Jack who during this period of the redevelopment of London paid workmen a little money if they found anything of value on the building sites.
It emerges that this particular development in Cheapside was an old jewellers shop and these jewels must have been hidden maybe in the English Civil War.
Once in the hands of Stony Jack he obtained a confirmation of treasure trove and he got about £1000 for the most spectacular jewels and the workmen got £100. An amazing sum for a workman at that time.
This was a fascinating story and in the photos are some of the pieces that were included in the hoard.

Stephen Chater

23/07/2026

A most interesting talk was given to the Club by Roger Mendham on 20 July at Tyrrells Wood on the Cholera outbreak in London in 1854 when Dr John Snow discovered the source of the outbreak in the water supply that led to the creation of the London sewer system.

The task was given to Sir John Bazalgette who led the design of miles of drainage tunnels and the building of huge pumps that dealt with the sewage. His efforts have lasted until the present day.

A fascinating tale given by an experienced storyteller, and members were left with a real understanding of how outstanding was Victorian engineering.

17/06/2026

Our special Summer Lunch was once again held at Tyrrells Wood on 15 June when a lovely buffet lunch was served to nearly 70 members and partners and friends.

08/06/2026

On Saturday 30 May a visit,organised by Keith Allardyce , was arranged to the London Museum of Water and Steam at the old Kew Bridge Pumping Station.
Several steam engines from the 19th Century were in operation, including one of the largest which was really impressive. 40 feet high, weighing 250 tonnes, with a 25 tonne counterweight.
The visit ended with a lunch at the Bell and Crown Pub.
This was a fascinating experience of Victorian engineering at its best and an enjoyable day for everyone who attended.

19/05/2026

Lucy Quinnell from the Rowhurst Forge in Leatherhead spoke to our Probus Club on 18 May. She covered many aspects of the blacksmith's trade from earliest times to the doldrums of the nineties through to the transformation of the industry today. Her family have been 94 years in Leatherhead so we had a real expert who outlined the basic process and the challenges of the profession.
She also modestly touched on some amazing commissions that she had earned, including the Globe Theatre, the Stonehenge Archer, and the Dorking Roundabout Chicken.
Her forge also reaches out to children who find education challenging and she is now partnering with Surrey University on a project to help those children who are classed as NEETS. She spoke with passion about the individual successes her approach had achieved with these pupils.
Our members listened attentively and, after an interesting Q&A session, gave Lucy an enthusiastic round of applause.

27/04/2026

Daniel Sykes is the Cyber Protection Officer for the Surrey Police and he talked to the Club on 20 April. He spoke on how to keep safe on line and he pointed out that cyber criminals were very effective and it is estimated that North Korea gets 15% of its GDP from online fraud.

He gave us many helpful tips one of which was to notice on websites the difference between HTTP (not trustworthy) and HTTPS (trustworthy).

The main message was when online always be aware and suspicious, never put personal information online, and the best password is three random words and two factor authentication.

Members asked numerous questions and the talk was extremely helpful and was well received.