PEMBROKE Ladies Probus President Yvonne Hurton presided confidently over the first meeting of her Presidential Year by introducing five new members to the club.

The Ruby Room at The Lamphey Court Hotel and Spa is now bursting at the seams and the club regrets that the membership is now closed as it has 69 members.

Following the meeting members eagerly awaited the return visit of speaker Tony Key OBE, who did not disappoint and kept all thoroughly entertained.

He continued his account of policing since the 1960s when he joined and was kitted out with his uniform, a pencil, whistle, torch and truncheon and was immediately on foot patrol with the aim of keeping order and catching criminals, which he enjoyed from the beginning.

A spell in the fingerprinting department followed after which he applied for a position in the CID and in 1971 entered the Drug Squad, which gave him much job satisfaction over a period of five years.

Operation Julie developed from the Reading Pop Festival which around 60,000 people attended, 80 per cent of who were smoking some drug or other.

The police mingled incognito with the throng of young people and members were surprised to hear that 90 per cent of LSD was known to pass through this pop festival.

Imagine the laughter which ensued when one of the Probus members volunteered that she had been at the festival but was not, of course, a drug user!

The second part of Tony’s talk took the form of presenting a murder crime scene to the members, which they all helped to solve, and this proved to be very thought-provoking and exercised the brains.

Only someone who has had great enjoyment and satisfaction from his career is able to talk so fluently and still leave his audience asking for more.

Probus looks forward to Tony returning to talk next year.

Pam Watton gave the vote of thanks on behalf of the club.

We were pleased that Tony elected to join us for the very pleasant lunch which followed, nicely served by the friendly staff of Lamphey Court Hotel and Spa.