On July 19 Alan Benjamin ("Benji"), a retired police officer with Worcestershire and Warwickshire forces, entertained us with a series of light-hearted anecdotes about his experiences as an ordinary "bobby" on duty during royal visits to Stratford, the Royal Show etc. Nothing apparently went wrong but some embarrassing incidents were narrowly averted. For instance, when the gold-bound Complete Works of Shakespeare - due to be presented to HM The Queen - had not been delivered to the theatre in Stratford and had to be specially delivered from Droitwich and signed for by Benji. The Duke of Gloucester narrowly escaped being unceremoniously evicted from the Royal Enclosure at the Royal Show, because he was there as a farmer, not part of the Royal party, and wasn't initially recognised. When the Queen had departed from one visit to Stratford, Morris dancers turned up in Bancroft Gardens and, as his duties had finished but he had not been stood down, Benji joined in to the delight of the crowds. He hadn't realised the Chief Superintendent was in the crowd but apparently there were no repercussions (or so he said!).

This was a delightful talk which put everybody in a good mood.

We meet every Thursday at The Boathouse, Evesham Rowing Club. Our speaker on 26 July will be our member Jim Cox who will be speaking about his life and on August 2 Rose Hewlett's talk is entitled "A Village Through Time". Full details can be found on our website www.eveshamprobus.co.uk

ALAN SMITH