Silent tribute to member of Probus Club

SHEPSHED Probus Club’s meeting of June 4, was opened by president Horace Lister who asked for a minute’s silence in remembrance of Jim Lawson, a club member who sadly passed away at the end of May, after which our secretary Wilf Shelton continued with club business.

The members were then regaled by three funny stories from Stan White after which grace was said before our 4 course lunch after which our speaker was reintroduced as Dr Mike Ferguson who went on to speak about mercy ships.

Dr Ferguson retired from English medicine in 2014 and spent some time looking for a suitable charity to volunteer for, eventually finding mercy ships and in particular “African Mercy” which was a disused ferry.

It was bought by a sponsor who helped to get it converted into a hospital ship with 5 operating theatres. The ship only deals with trauma cases not medication.

It is based in Cameroon and Benin spending four months in each country before going back to it’s home port for refurbishment, which apart from a paint job, means steam cleaning the five operating theatres and dental surgery. All the equipment is stripped out to allow the rooms to be thoroughly cleaned before being put back together.

When the ship is fully operational it deals with 1500 dental operations and as many as 16,000 patients are seen by the practitioner on the ship.

A new ship is being built in China which will have 6 operating theatres and will be able to do twice as many operations in much better conditions.

Dr Ferguson has now retired to spend time with his family. After his talk our president asked members to show their appreciation, after which he reminded everyone that the next meeting will be held on 2nd July at Junction 23 restaurant at 12.30pm.

If you are interested in joining the club please contact our secretary, Wilf Shelton on 01509 769802.