Okehampton’s Ladies Probus Club celebrated its sapphire anniversary this week (July 18) with a blue-themed celebration in honour of the gemstone.

Members wore blue to the event, which marked 45 years since the club was founded in 1977, and were treated to a short talk about the history and symbolism of the sapphire gemstone.

The speaker explained how the word comes from the Latin ‘saphirus’ and the Greek ‘sapheiros’ meaning blue and told the ladies about one of the most famous sapphire engagement rings once worn by Diana, Princess of Wales and now worn by Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.

The ladies were also able to tuck in to a special birthday cake, made by club secretary Cynthia Gelder, with tea and coffee at the meeting held at Okehampton’s Conservative Club.

Okehampton’s club is currently looking for new members. Sheila Hines, organiser of the day’s event, said: ‘Okehampton Ladies Probus meets fortnightly on a Monday 10.30-12.00 and we look forward to welcoming retired ladies as new members for coffee, interesting speakers and a friendly environment.’

Okehampton’s Ladies Probus Club is just one of many across the world where retired and semi-retired professional and business people can meet up on a regular basis to socialise and share interests.

The name ‘Probus’ derives from abbreviations of the words ‘professional’ and ‘business’ and is also a Latin word meaning ‘honest’ or ‘virtuous’.