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At the next meeting of Congleton Dane Probus Club on Monday the 17th  September our speaker will be John Hastings-Thomson who is a retired teacher living in Derbyshire,  a lifelong railway enthusiast and a director of the LMS Patriot Project. He has a particular interest in the LMS and is a founder member of the LMS Society. He is a volunteer at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Derbyshire, where he drives and fires the railway’s steam locomotives.

Our speaker next week will be Gordon Speakman who is a long time member of the Warrington History Society, history from the ancient period up to the Napoleonic era having been a family interest for many years.

His talk will be about the Battle of Winwick Pass when, during the English Civil Wars, the Parliamentary victory over the Anglo Scottish army on 19th August 1648 at Winwick Pass brought an end to the second civil war. What was left of the Royalist Army gave up their weapons, ammunition and colours and surrendered them to Oliver Cromwell at Warrington Bridge.

The speaker at the next meeting of Congleton Dane Probus Club will be John Miller who was a member of BBC staff for nearly 30 years, the majority of that time in television production.  He began his BBC career in sound radio operations and after his time in TV production moved on to producing exhibitions, shows and live events, initially as the BBC’s corporate exhibitions manager and later as a freelance for mainly BBC-related companies.

Our speaker next week will be Mike Hewitt who was born in Holland and his family came back to England in 1940 due to the Second World War. He joined the Welsh Guards, attending Sandhurst for 18 months and then joined BP, following which he emigrated to Chicago and worked as a Christian minister, looking after alcoholics and the homeless.

Our speaker on Monday the 21st of May will be Mark Thomas who been involved in fund-raising for the RNLI for well over a decade and since leaving work four years ago he has joined the RNLI Youth Education Team and has seen over 10,000 young people across Cheshire, helping them understand how to stay safe near the water.

Our speaker next Monday the 16th of April will be Dr Joan Alcock who is an Honorary Fellow of London South Bank University and also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.  An archaeologist and historian Dr Alcock was one of the prime instigators in bringing to publication the W. B. Stephens 1970 History of Congleton as well as contributing to the chapter on Religion the section on Protestant Non-conformity.

Our speaker on Monday 19th March at the Lion & Swan will be Nigel Linge, who is Professor of Telecommunications at the University of Salford with over 30 years experience as a member of academic staff. He is an electronic engineer by profession who specialises in data communication networks and their applications. His research, which has a strong industry involvement, covers 5G mobile, location and context based services, communication protocols, the delivery of multimedia services, network design and architectures.