In 1966, the retiring Chairman of the Rotary Club of Caterham in Surrey found that he was `getting under his wife’s feet’ at home and through him and the sponsorship of his Rotary Club, the first Probus Club in the UK was formed in Caterham on 22nd February and its inaugural lunch took place on the 2nd March of that year.
Members were asked to suggest a name for the club and the name PROBUS (PROfessional and BUSiness) was chosen from a number of suggestions.
In 1974, Probus expanded into New Zealand and by 1976 the idea had spread to Australia. Although Probus membership has its greatest concentrations in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, clubs today exist in all parts of the world, including the U.S., Belgium, India, South Africa and several other countries in Africa and Asia.
The first meeting of Vaga Probus Club took place on 13th September 1988 with a founding membership of 31 and with Dr Ben Carruthers as its first President. The 25th Anniversary was celebrated on 17th September 2013 with a Jazz Lunch Cruise on the Gloucester to Sharpness canal.
The Roman name for the River Wye was the “Vaga”, which stems from vagus, meaning to roam (vagor) or the wanderer.