The original Crowborough Probus Club was formed out of The Royal Tunbridge Wells Club in 1987 with a nucleus of just 4 members. By January 1991 the Crowborough Club had reached its constitutional ceiling of 50 members and had a waiting list of 14 with others showing an interest in wishing to become members. The Crowborough Club under its then President, Eric Nailard, set up a meeting on 28^th February 1991 to discuss the formation of a new club and thus the Ashdown Probus Club was born. By the time of the first AGM of April 1992 the membership had risen from 16 to 47.

Ashdown Probus Club is for retired or semi-retired professional or business people, who meet once a month, for social drinks and a Lunch, at which we host a Speaker.

We draw our membership from a wide area that, centred on Crowborough, extends north east to include Tunbridge Wells and Wadhurst, south west to include Uckfield and Danehill, and north west towards East Grinstead.

The purpose of The Ashdown Probus Club is purely social and to promote fellowship and friendship among its members. The Club used to meet for a monthly luncheon at The Plough & Horses pub in Crowborough until this establishment closed its doors in 2016. It then relocated to Crowborough Beacon Golf Club, Beacon Road, Crowborough, TN6 1UJ for its monthly meeting and luncheon on the second Monday of each month and has remained there ever since. Members gather at 12.00 noon for a 12.30 p.m. two course meal and coffee followed by a guest speaker and questions.

With the exception of the monthly luncheon, members’ wives and partners are invited to join in all social activities - enjoying the President’s Lunch, at High Rocks, Tunbridge Wells in the Spring of 2023, a mid-Summer BBQ and a later Summer picnic hosted at a member’s private home, and finally the Christmas lunch, the highlight of the year, when members, their wives/partners and guests went back to High Rocks Hotel to celebrate the Christmas season.

For the coming year we are returning to an old favourite, the Hydro Hotel, Eastbourne for the Presidents Lunch in March.

Outings to varied and fascinating places have been enjoyed in the company of wives/partners and guests during the year. We started with a guided tour of the Stationers Livery Hall in the City of London followed by a trip to Theatre Royal, Brighton for the opera "La Boheme". We had a Spring guided walking tour of Greenwich and there was an outing to Wadhurst for the outdoor theatre company The Rude Mechanicals' play "Miss Popplewell's Garden" followed by an autumn visit to the Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells to see the TWODS musical production “A Chorus Line”. The final outing of the year was to The Apothecaries Hall in the City of London.  All this year's trips were well attended.

Several outings have already been arranged for 2024 including returns to the next TWODS production "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat" in May and The Rude Mechanicals "The Dressing Book" in July with a trip to another of the City of London's Livery companies - the Armourers and Braziers' Hall in September. A full programme of events throughout the year will be published shortly.

There is also an active Golf section with Spring and Autumn meetings arranged at various golfing venues around the South east, London Beach Tenterden in early June and Weald of Kent, Headcorn at the end of September. Other activities include Croquet in Tunbridge Wells on the second Tuesday of each month (May to September) and countryside walks of around four miles organised each month during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn, ending with a pub lunch.

Ashdown Probus Club currently has over 60 Full members with a small number of Waiting and Occasional members. The Club is administered by a committee comprising The President; Vice President and up to 9 other members elected at the AGM held in April/May each year. The committee allocates responsibilities as it sees fit provided that there shall be a Treasurer and Secretary.

Crowborough, situated just south of Tunbridge Wells on the A26 has the largest population in inland East Sussex (21,688 in 2021) and at 794 ft (242 metres) above sea level is the highest town in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It borders the Ashdown Forest, a site of European significance for birds and heathland. The countryside around the town is a walkers' paradise and there are also facilities nearby for horse riders, cyclists and rock climbers.

The town was really established in the 18th century after local benefactor Sir Henry Fermor bequeathed money for a church (All Saints) and charity school for the benefit of the “very ignorant and heathenish people”, as he described them in his 1732 will, who lived in Crowborough and Ashdown Forest. The town expanded with the arrival of the railways in 1868 and became a health and holiday centre - earning the soubriquet of Scotland in Sussex.

A heathland golf course - with magnificent views across Ashdown Forest and the south downs, a hospital and fire station were added between 1895 and 1905. Gradually the town grew to incorporate neighbouring Jarvis Brook, Poundfield, Whitehill, Stone Cross and Alderbrook, Sweet Haws and Steel Cross.

Crowborough’s most famous resident was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes and author of many novels written in the years he lived in the town.

His home between 1907 and his death in 1930 was Windlesham, Crowborough and he is commemorated by a statue standing at Crowborough Cross - the town’s main crossroads.

Other attractions that Crowborough can offer visitors include a country park, a thriving arts culture and various annual events including the Summer Fair, a Christmas Event, the traditional Bonfire Society carnival in September and the amazing annual fireworks event on 5^th November annually.