PROBUS CLUB OF BABBACOMBE & ST MARYCHURCH
(Meeting in Wellswood, Torquay)
18th May 2023
“Agatha Christies’ True Crime Inspirations”
Talk by Mike Holgate
This was an entertaining return visit by Mike Holgate with his electronic guitar – this time with an intriguing musical presentation about Agatha Christie’s 66 crime novels. How many of them had been inspired by ‘real life’ criminal events?
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He explored this subject with a programme of original songs about well-known events including the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s baby son in 1932, the infamous Dr. Crippen murder in 1910, the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888, and the Great Train Robbery in 1963.
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His songs described details about these as well as other famous criminal stories and he explained how he believed Christie had drawn on aspects of them for the stories in her books and the investigations carried out by Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings, and also by Miss Marple.
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Another of Mike Holgate’s songs was linked to the mysterious 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie herself in 1926 after her car was found abandoned in Surrey.
11th May 2023
“My Life Afloat”
Talk by Carol Stevens
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Experiences from five years of cruising the canals of England on a narrowboat were described by Carol, who now lives in Teignmouth. In the 1990’s, after enjoying a holiday on a canal boat, Carol and her accountant husband decided to give up their jobs, sell their house in the Midlands and buy one as their new home!
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They chose a 62-ft boat named Liberator which was well equipped and furnished and they found a quiet mooring on a canal adjoining farmland, with a small garden. They then embarked on a plan to spend two months in the early summer and then two months in late summer each year, exploring much of England at 4 miles an hour! They planned their trips using the detailed canal maps, which identified all the necessary information including convenient pubs and restaurants!
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Among their memorable destinations which Carol described were Oxford, Liverpool and Wigan Pier – which did exist, but was a disappointment! There were also new problems, such as having no doctor or dentist and no mailing address. But they found creative ways to overcome these during their travels.
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They also confronted the experience of returning to their usual mooring on one occasion to find that Liberator was missing. It was eventually traced four miles away, by a road bridge, where it had been stripped of most of their belongings as well as much of the boat’s equipment. Another experience was when Carol slipped and fell into the canal fully clothed in layers of winter wear which helped to keep her afloat until her husband dived into the water to take her back to safety. Then there was the day when the police arrived in their search for a body seen in the canal.
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“But it was five enjoyable years,” said Carol who went on to describe how on a visit to family in Devon, they spotted a flat in Teignmouth which appealed to them for the next phase of their lives and they decided to sell Liberator and take their memories of a ‘life afloat’ with them.
The Navy – how it was then!
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What was life in the Royal Navy like 120 years ago? For his talk to the Probus Club of Babbacombe and St. Marychurch last week, naval historian Eric Walkom showed a remarkable series of photographs from the 1900-1906 period showing every aspect of the navy at the beginning of the 20th century. As well as pictures of the ships at that time, there were dozens of illustrations of sailors at work – as carpenters, painters, even plumbers – as well as maintaining the huge 12-inch guns and torpedoes. There was communications training (by semaphore!), plus daily life on the messdeck and in the wardroom, as well the daily rum issue (“Up spirits!). And yet, when in their bell bottom uniforms, the sailors looked very much like those of today.
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Eric Walkom has given many talks in the area over the years based on his research and archives. He is a member and former chairman of the club
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