THE next Club lunch meeting of Narberth and District Probus will be on January 29 at the Old Board School Guest House, St Clears at 12.30pm.

Guest speaker will be former Pembrokeshire Life editor Keith Johnson, whose talk is entitled ‘A Pembrokeshire Pub Crawl’.

At the previous meeting, over 40 members and their partners enjoyed a superb Christmas Lunch at the Old Board School Guest House. President David Thomas welcomed Gareth Mills who gave an excellent talk about the Stackpole estate.

Gareth Mills, guest speaker at the December meeting of Narberth and District Probus Club, who gave an excellent talk about the Stackpole Estate during a superb Christmas Lunch at the Old Board School Guest House, St Clears
Gareth Mills, guest speaker at the December meeting of Narberth and District Probus Club, who gave an excellent talk about the Stackpole Estate during a superb Christmas Lunch at the Old Board School Guest House, St Clears (Photo: N&DPC)

Gareth, a graduate in history with many years experience of teaching in Secondary schools across South and West Wales, also worked worked in Local Government as a Change Manager for Education and Lifelong Learning. He was an Assistant Director of Education.

A Trustee of the Sunderland Trust and a tour guide at Pembroke Castle, Gareth is the author of two books and regularly gives talks to local organisations.

Gareth outlined the history of Stackpole from the Bronze Age settlement through to its Norman roots. He traced the remarkable history of the Campbell Cawdor family who created the amazing estate in the 18th and 19th centuries together with ownership of property at Gelli Fawr, in Carmarthenshire and the vast Cawdor Estate in Scotland. He detailed the demise of the magnificent mansion during the Second World War, the transfer of most of the estate to the MOD at Castlemartin Range and the rebirth of their estate under the National Trust.

Gareth illustrated his talk with superb slides of rare photos and images. A vote of thanks was given by Peter Lakey.

If you would like to know more about Probus, or join the club, call Patrick Jones on 07846 660904.