Thursday 29th October 2026 – Walk – Ashley
Knutsford Rex Probus Walking Group tackled a 4.8 mile route around Ashley. They are pictured crossing the River Bollin in beautiful and quiet set surroundings just south of the Manchester conurbation. Later, on the return to Ashley, the group had to contend with the considerable noise of crossing the M56. After a very pleasant walk, they were joined by other Probus members for an enjoyable lunch at the Three Greyhounds pub in Ashley.
Thursday 22nd October 2026 – Club Meeting – Speaker, Clive Brookes, with a presentation entitled ‘General Patton in Cheshire During 1944’.
Clive started by asking members to describe General Patton in a couple of words. Although most of us were rather young in 1944 answers ranged from ‘Blunt’, ‘Vain’ and even a ‘Bully’.
It was an agreed perception and possibly stemmed from a Military career that started at an early age having been sent for Military training at The Virginia Military Institute for his secondary education. So General Patton never had a real job as he had led an institutional life throughout.
Clive detailed Patton’s military career in Mexico, Hawaii, Washington, Texas, Georgia, the Mojave Desert and WW1 prior to joining campaigns during WW2 with the Allied invasion of Sicily and the Italian Campaign. It was in 1944 he was consigned to the Cheshire area where he led the US Third Army from bases at Toft Hall and Peover Hall. He had become known as a great military strategist having spent time studying wars from old world China through to the various wars in Europe prior to 1939. Clive detailed Patton’s involvement with the local people of Cheshire and particularly those around Knutsford. He had a particular fondness for the various pubs dotted around!
Patton’s departure from our area was to focus his attention on the planned landings on the coast of France and inclusive of spreading false decoy information towards the German intelligence network. The US Army units under his command had great success and they made fast progress moving across France and they were eventually able to relieve the American forces surrounded by the German Army in the Ardennes city of Bastogne in late December 1944.
In 1945 General Patton was a passenger in a car involved in an accident near Heidelberg in Germany but he was so seriously injured it proved fatal for him.
Thursday 15th October 2026 – Walk – Daresbury
Daresbury Visitors Centre
Daresbury turned out to be a really interesting village particularly with its association with author Lewis Carroll who was the son of the rector of Daresbury.
The walk took the group from the Ring o’ Bells Pub, a really splendid pub, across the main road and down towards one of the biggest potential housing estate members had seen with a huge amount of building going on. Then they walked the main Bridgewater canal together with a canal spur which previously took barges to the River Mersey at Runcorn. From there the party walked back across splendid and lush Cheshire countryside fields back to Daresbury where the Group visited the Church and its little visitors centre which focussed on the life and works of Lewis Carroll, particularly ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
The Group ended the walk back in the Ring O’ Bells where we were joined by other members of Probus.
Thursday 8th October 2026 – Golf – Annual Probus Clubs’ Handicap
Our Rex Golf team came second in the Knutsford Regional Probus Golf Open at Knutsford Golf Club. Our team missing 1st place by only 1.7 points. Unfortunately the result was impacted by some of the vagaries of the scoring system which apparently provided the opposition a benefit when the Handicap system was applied.
On a positive note Jack Coleman won the prize for ‘Nearest to the Hole’ which was a single golf ball carrying the ‘House of Commons’ insignia.
Thursday 8th October 2026 – Club Meeting – Speaker Dr. Peter Webb who gave a talk on Volcanoes
Dr Webb has been interested in geology since the age of eight, when he found fossils on the beach near his home in Worthing. He has since worked internationally in both academia and the oil and gas industry. His excellent talk, illustrated with slides and videos, began with an explanation of the Earth’s structure, from its molten core to its crust. He then described how plate tectonics create weaknesses in the crust through which volcanoes erupt. Dr Webb went on to explain the many types of volcano and pyroclastic lava flow. The subject prompted lively audience engagement with attendees sharing their experiences from around the world.