Henley Probus Club: Team 2023-03 Photo copyright Nigel Balchin

Club Membership

Committee Members

Committee RoleCurrent Holder
President
Remains as a committee member for one year after serving as Chairman, helping with advice to assist smooth continuity.
Viv Emerson
Director for Research for the Home Office Forensic Science Service stationed at Aldermaston. Following his retirement he served 13 years as a Magistrate on the Newbury and Hungerford Bench.
Chair
Presides over and conducts all meetings.
Tony Brown
Vice Chair
Supports the work of the Chair and fills in when Chair unavailable.


Tony Cobb
Originally from Kent. BSc in Zoology and Psychology from Manchester University; ACIS.
Worked for multinational consumer goods company in various roles and finished as Director of Corporate Development responsible for mergers, acquisitions and international project evaluation.
Treasurer
Reports bank balances at Club and Committee meetings, with explanations where necessary. Responsible for banking income and making payments. Normally serves for three years.
Richard Kingston
Ran a locally based business till 2006 and has subsequently appreciated partial retirement for a number of years.
Club Secretary
Acts as the focal point for all communications within the club. Produces minutes of committee meetings and the AGM. Keeps members informed of upcoming events and disseminates information to club members.

David Murray
Served 27+ years in the United States Air Force, working in the field of communications-electronics. Following retirement from the military he worked as a senior manager for Arqiva, the company that had been the Independent Broadcast Authority. His hobbies include photography and fence judging at national and international Eventing competitions.
Membership Secretary
Receives applications for club membership, prepares a list of members and arranges for new members to be made welcome.
Roger Griffiths
Served 37 years as an engineer in the RAF, then as a consultant to military services.
Events Secretary
Arranges outings/visits during the year, such as theatre trips, coach trips, and boat trips.
Tim Woods (Acting)

Publicity Secretary
Liaises with local media, primarily the Henley Standard, Henley Herald and Round&About, providing regular updates on monthly meetings and current/future events.
Roger Roberts
Spent most of his career in the Aerospace and Defence sector, with a final appointment as Commercial Director Eurofighter GmbH in Munich, Germany.
Outgoing President
Represents the Club at outside functions or occasions as required. Assists Chair as required. Recommends members as future club principals. Normally serves for three years.
Julian Pearce
A qualified Chartered Accountant. Spent his entire career in Professional Practice, including a Partner for 30 years in a long-established local firm. Retired in 2005.
Speaker Secretary
Recruits speakers for monthly Club meetings.
To be Appointed
Web Master
Maintains structure and content of the Men’s Probus Website.
Nigel (Gin) Balchin
Retired Enterprise IT Architect who organised the IT assets and departments of many medium and large companies.

Member Biographies

Name & BackgroundCareerTop Interests
R Michael James
Returned from the tropics just before WW2, the family resided during that conflict on the Dorset coast close to the location where US troops disembarked on D Day.
Two remembrances: waving to General Eisenhower as he passed our house, and from the same location, watching the dead being brought back from the Normandy beaches.
  • Completed National Service in the Royal Navy. Perfect timing – it was the Suez Crisis!
  • Apprenticeship in the City of London. Qualifications, Chartered Accountant (FCA) and Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA).
  • 8 years in the City, and over 30 at a global Anglo-American corporation.
  • Qualifications post-retirement, largely in history, BA, MA, PhD.
  • Christ Church and its involvement with the wider community
  • Classical concerts, visiting speakers, golf, and dining
  • The Open University and it’s scholarships awarded to various groups with special needs, including carers, migrants, and wounded veterans.
George Brown
Originally from Northumberland.
BSc Mechanical Engineering,
Coventry University.




  • Wireline engineer, location manager & sales manager in the Middle East & North Sea, and later Wireline Temperature Interpretation Advisor for Schlumberger.
  • Petrophysicist and head of petrophysics at BP.
    Developed analysis techniques for oil well down hole fiber optic monitoring.
  • Director at Absheron Consulting.
  • Formula 1 motor racing.
  • Travel.
  • Model Building.



Tony Clark
Retired chartered electrical engineer.


  • Worked in electronics companies,
  • aerospace and
  • the computer industry.

  • Singing.
  • Socialising.
  • Writing.
  • Painting.
Denis McCoy
Originally from the North of Ireland.
Qualified as an architect (ARIBA) following attendance at the Schools of Architecture in Belfast & Oxford, later as a Chartered Town Planner (FRTPI).








  • City Architect’s Department in Belfast, followed by joining a private sector practice in Islington, working in the 1960s on a new comprehensive school in Stoke Newington.
  • County Planning Officer in Armagh in the early 1970s.
  • Came to Henley to join a commercial architectural/planning practice, piloting proposals through to grants of planning permission in Dumfries & Edinburgh.
  • Conservation Officer in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the 1980s leading the production of studies of most of that Borough’s conservation areas.
  • Finally running my own practice in Henley, and acting as a Government Planning Inspector.
  • Walking with the Ramblers.
  • Exploring cities (sometimes from my sofa).
  • Gardening (and eating the results).






David Booth
Originally from Cheshire. Undergraduate in Engineering from Imperial College. Diploma Aeronautical College, Cranfield.







  • Sperry Gyroscope during 1960s & 1970s. Missile autopilot design. Military servo tester patent. Also computer peripheral design for Computing Devices of Canada.
  • From 1970s, IP Sharp Associates and then Boeing. Both Computer Time Sharing. Business and engineering.
  • Cad/Cam Alliance: Computer aided design.
  • Uxbridge College teaching during 1990s; Engineering, Physics and Maths to A level and BTEC students.
  • Wind surfing.
  • Football FA referee for 10 to 18 year olds when I was fit!
  • Teaching 7-10year olds to program using Micro:bit processor, and applying Micro:bit to projects.

Dave Murray
Originally from Florida.
BSc in Business & Management – University of Maryland MSc in Management – Troy State University







  • Management of Communications Electronic systems during 27+ years United States Air Force.
  • Senior Manager for UK Broadcast and Communications company which was the Independent Broadcast Authority but now known as Arqiva.
  • Head of Public Safety Projects working with police, fire, ambulance, Coast Guard, RNLI etc communications systems.
  • Background in long distance telecommunications systems.
  • Fence judging at National and International Eventing events.
  • Photography
  • Travel





Peter Boardley
Early childhood (1950s) in Pinner, Andover and Peter Symonds School, Winchester. Apprenticeship AEI and Nottingham University (BSc Elec Eng) in the 1960s.

  • AEI Commissioning Engineer Ben Cruachan power station and steel mills.
  • Foster Wheeler Electrical Engineer, Instrumentation and Control Design Office Manager, CAD Manager, Engineering Proposals Manager, Principal Project Engineer.
  • Choral Singing
  • Church Finance
  • Golf
  • Gardening
  • Bridge
Tony Cobb
Originally from Kent.
BSc in Zoology and Psychology from Manchester University; ACIS.



  • Worked whole career for multinational consumer goods company in a variety of roles.
  • Finished career as Director of Corporate Development responsible for mergers, acquisitions and international project evaluation.
  • Travel
  • Gardening
  • Cricket (including watching abroad)
  • Politics
  • Wine appreciation
Peter Stone
A qualified Chartered Accountant. Spent a number of years in industry before owning/running a retail travel agency for 14 years. Retired in 2006.
Note that these biographies are kindly provided by a number of club members, simply to illustrate the range of experience that your fellow members will have, should you choose to join us.