Committee Members

Committee Role	Current Holder
President Represents club at outside functions. Recommends selection of future club chairmen. Assists club chairmen as needed.	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 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.
Vice Chair Supports the work of the Chair and fills in when Chair unavailable.	Vacant
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.	Peter Boardley AEI commissioning engineer, Foster Wheeler electrical project engineer, CAD Manager.
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.	Tilden McKean New Zealand born, left to work for BP in Australia then in international operations as a Geologist and Reservoir engineer.
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.	Vacant
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.
Speaker Secretary Recruits speakers for monthly Club meetings.	Vacant – Viv Emerson is filling the role temporarily.
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 & Background	Career	Top 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.
Chris Gosling Born and educated in Surrey. Read History at university, graduating in 1973.	Following some junior positions in Human Resources in the nuclear industry I moved to the Science Museum as their HR Director. Moved into the Higher Education sector and held similar HR Director positions in London Business School, Imperial College and the LSE.	In my work I always favoured practical and pragmatic solutions over unrealisable and idealistic aspirations. I retired in my mid sixties becoming an active and involved grandparent soon thereafter.
Jeremy Brazil I spent 35 years in insurance in London for an international insurance company.	I was responsible for the underwriting of insurance and reinsurance business internationally. It involved a lot of travel and I enjoyed meeting people and exploring their cultures. I am retired now but still do some insurance consultancy and I have a small farm to keep me busy too. I am president of the Henley Riding for the Disabled Group and I volunteer with them and I am a Trustee of Stoke Row Chapel.	I like to help the community and those less fortunate than myself.
John Yeates	I was a practising solicitor for 24 years, a Senior Partner at Blandy & Blandy in Reading and was Deputy Under Sheriff for Berkshire. After taking a post graduate course at the age of 50 I became a jobbing actor in theatre and TV.	My wife and I lived in Henley for 30 years and during the early years of our retirement moved to the Kingsbridge area of Devon where I was Chairman of Probus. I transferred to the Henley branch of Probus when we came back to this area to be near our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  In April 2026 we will have been happily married for 70 years!
Dennis McCoy Born in Ulster, but have spent more than half of my life on this side of the Irish sea.	I am a retired architect and chartered town planning consultant. During that time I was the job architect on a sixth form entry comprehensive school in North London.  Later I worked on housing developments there, on commercial proposals in Scotland, and latterly as a consultant Planning Inspector.	Now that I am fully retired I take every opportunity of exploring London in more detail than was possible before, and from time to time looking at other cities in this remarkable country. And when not doing that I enjoy visiting France, trying to improve my French, and walking in the countryside here with friends and my dog.
Roger Roberts Born in South Wales,educated in Llanelli Grammar School and Birmingham University.	Spent most of my working life in British Aerospace. During my career, I occupied various roles for the company in the UK, Germany and the US and travelled extensively worldwide.	I am now retired and send much time gardening at home and travelling in Europe.
David Booth I was educated at King’s School Macclesfield and graduated at Imperial College as an Electrical engineer. I have lived in Henley since 1971.	My first job was designing an autopilot for the Sea Dart missile. I progressed to providing access for Big UK companies to Boeing’s IBM and Cray computers via transatlantic time sharing. I ran their UK timesharing branch office and promoted “The APL language”.	More recently I have been teaching 7 to 12 year olds to write computer programs using the IBM Microbit. Having two sons I got involved with Henley Boys football club providing weekly training and competitive sessions in this area. My wife organised pitches for 7 to 16 year old players.
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.
Richard Kingston	Ran a locally based business till 2006 and has subsequently appreciated partial retirement for a number of 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.