THE PROBUS CLUB OF NORTH SYDNEY               Newsletter 391 17 June, 2025  

  

PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Barbara B

President’s report - May - June 2025 

Once again, it has been a busy month for  the club. The film Salt Walk was a moving  and thought-provoking conclusion to May,  and June began with a wonderful outing to  

Abbotsford Rowing Club for lunch. The  walk this week at Sydney Olympic  Bicentennial Park was fascinating. Thanks  to Douglas, Noreen and Lindsay for  providing us with such a diverse array of  activities. 

Your newsletter this month comes to you  from Annika, who is filling in whilst Judy is  away. It is a big undertaking, especially  trying to get contributors to send in their  reports on time. 

Carol Anne, Patrick and Mary Ann have  formed a sub-committee reviewing the  constitution. Carol Anne has been working  tirelessly on review of all the  

documentation over the past couple of  weeks, which is a big undertaking, and  absolutely essential for the club. Thanks to  everyone involved for their work on this  important task. 

I will be meeting with the manager of  Northbridge Golf Club next week to  discuss some housekeeping issues we  

have experienced at our meetings in the  last couple of months. I hope we can work  together to reach satisfactory resolution to  these issues. 

Coming up on the first Saturday in July is  the information (and hopefully recruitment)  stall at North Sydney Produce Market. Lyn  Molloy is co-ordinating the day, and we are  hopeful that a few of you will be able to  assist for an hour or so to talk about how  the club enhances your life. There will be  information packs available. Please speak  to Lyn if you are able to assist. 

I am sure everyone is looking forward to  the Christmas in July in the Blue  Mountains. It is also a reminder that we  must start planning our annual Christmas  lunch in December. If anyone has any  suggestions for a venue, please let a  member of the committee know - any  suggestions will be appreciated. 

Bill, Carol-Anne and I will be attending the  Probus Information day in the first week of  July, and we hope to come back with fresh  ideas for the club - we will keep you  

posted. 

WELFARE - Jackie M

Patrick sent this report of his and Gillian’s 

visit to see Polly Gow and John Gates in  their Retirement Village (photo attached). 

Both are well, and their respective ages  are 98 years young and 93 years young.  They are being well fed and looked after.  They told us the Village was relaxed and  

the staff very helpful and friendly…and  they said there were almost too many  activities. When we asked about Happy  Hour, Polly said ‘It’s all day if you want!’ 

John mentioned, for the record, he was  born on 29 Feb, and with one birthday  every 4 years, he’s really only 24 years old! 

A card was sent to Carole Eastley who is  unwell. Remember to call Jackie (0412 836  997) if you know of any members needing  welfare support. 

BIRTHDAYS in June 

6 Judy C and Robyn P, 8 Ivan  B, 10 Judy M, 22 Barbara Bl, 27  Louise L

SPEAKERS - Patrick W

This month Dr John Cartmill, Associate  Dean of Macquarie University Hospital will  share with us “Some Principles of Surgery”  including amusing anecdotes during his  international medical career 

In July, Dr Barbara Briggs AM, a member  of the Northbridge Probus Club, will talk  

about ‘Behind the Scenes at Sydney’s  Botanical Gardens’ where she worked for  many years. 

MEMBERSHIP - report from Lyn M

Membership Report 

Current membership is 55. 

At out last meeting we welcomed John and  Denise Branson to our Club. They gave us a brief and interesting outline of  their life and careers in the 

medical field while raising a large  family. Welcome John and Denise. 

Our recruitment drive at the North Sydney  Produce Market is fast 

approaching. It is on Saturday the 5th July  from 8.00 a.m. to midday. 

Thank you to those who have volunteered  to be there on the day. More 

volunteers are always welcome - so  please, let me know if you are available, even for only a short time. 

MOVIES - report from Douglas I

Cremorne Orpheum movie this month will  be ‘Jane Austin Wrecked my Life’. It had  good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The  time will be advised closer to the day.  

NEXT OUTING  

3 June - Noreen B’s Report 

As usual we began our outing with coffee,  today at City Extra, Circular Quay. The trip  in the ferry was very enjoyable despite light  rain and colder temperatures. It was  unusual for many of us to travel from  Sydney Harbour towards Parramatta River.  This provided relaxing views and lovely  inlets along the shore, giving us a different  view of Sydney. Our table at the Abbotsford  Rowing Club overlooked the water which  resulted in a very pleasant day and an  opportunity to gather with our Probus  friends. 

July Outing – Tuesday 1 July 2025. As the visit to ANSTO at Lucas Heights  has been cancelled due to lack of  numbers. 

We are now organizing a privately guided  tour of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman  Prizes at the Art Gallery of N.S.W. Would members interested in attending  please contact Jocelyn Millett at 

jonem@bigpond.com.au as early as  possible. 

The tour will start at 10.30 a.m. (please  arrive 10 minutes before the tour start  time). It will last for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  The cost is $27 per person and we will  need at least 10 people to enable the tour  to go ahead. We will meet in the Kaldor  Hall of Naala Nura, just inside the main  

entrance to the Gallery. There is a café at  the Gallery where we can have lunch after  the tour. Payment to be made preferably to  the Probus bank account but cash payments will be taken at the next meeting. August Outing – 29 July 2025 

The August Outing will be the Christmas in  July lunch at Bygone Beauties at Leura,  organized by Robin Solomon. This outing  is now booked out. 

WALKS - report from Lindsay K

What a glorious day 7 of us set off on our  walk around Sydney Olympic Park. Mary  Anne and Douglas I, Barbara B, Bill B,  Elizabeth S, Robyn S and myself. We had coffee at Deja Brew, and set off on  our walk. We had lunch Bella Pannini Bar.  A great day was had by all. 

Tuesday 8th of July. Meet at city extra at  circular quay from 9,45am for coffee. We  will be catching the 10.27am ferry to  Kissing Point. From that wharf we will do a  short walk around Putney Park, returning  to the wharf to catch another ferry to  Cabarita Point. From there we will walk to  Breakfast Point. We will have lunch at the  Breakfast Point Cafe, Shop 5/20 Market st.  Breakfast Point. The first walk is about 1  kilometre and the second walk is about 2  kilometres. I haven't worked out all the  timings yet, but we will need to be at the  Cafe by 1pm as the kitchen closes at 2pm.  Will finalise all the details by the meeting. 

PREFERRED METHOD OF PAYMENT  FOR ALL PROBUS ACTIVITIES  Probus bank account: BSB 032-099 Acc number

Information in Description: name of the  activity and your name.

FOR INFORMATION  

The next two newsletters, June and July, will  be edited by Annika Tults. Please email copy  to her on annikatults@gmail.com one week  

before the date of the Probus meeting. The 

simplest way is to send the material in an  

email without any attachments. This makes  

cutting and pasting and editing the most  

straightforward procedure. 

Probus Tuesday monthly schedule  1st Tuesday outing  2nd Tuesday walk  3rd Tuesday committee meeting 9.15 am  followed by general meeting 10.15 am 4th Tuesday movie  5th Tuesday picnic/lunch/other activity

DATES FOR THE DIARY: JUNE, JULY 

Tuesday 17 June, 9.15 am Committee meeting, Northbridge Golf Club Tuesday 17 June, 10.15 am Probus general meeting, Northbridge Golf Club Tuesday 24 June film, Cremorne Orpheum, TBA 

Tuesday 1 July, Outing 

Tuesday 8 July, Walk 

Tuesday 29 July Christmas in July, Bygone Beauties, Leura, 

 June 2025 Walk at Olympic Park

 THE PROBUS CLUB OF NORTH SYDNEY 

                    Newsletter 390 20 May, 2025  

PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Barbara B

The club continues with strong  

membership for this year. There are  currently 54 active members, as reported  to PSPL in our annual return. Huge thanks  to Elisabeth S and Lyn M for  their amazing last minute efforts to follow  up with a number of members and get  accurate numbers submitted to PSPL by  the April 30 deadline. 

Whilst our member numbers remain  relatively stable, it is still important for us to  ensure the club’s ongoing viability by  attracting new members. Lyn Molloy is co ordinating a stall at North Sydney produce  markets on 5 July. I will be attending and I  hope a few more volunteers will be able to  give up an hour on a Saturday morning to  join us. 

Upcoming activities include the outing to  ANSTO at Lucas Heights in early July,  organised by Jocelyn. Please make sure  you have completed all the security  paperwork if you are hoping to attend.  Names and payment for those wishing to  attend Christmas in July organised by  Robyn are required by 1 June. Thanks to  everyone who plans and organises our  monthly schedule of activities - each outing  requires substantial planning and a large  time commitment. 

In early July, Carol-anne B, Bill B and I will be attending a Probus  

Information day hosted by PSPL. The day  is designed to provide guidance on  membership retention and growth,  succession planning, promotion and  publicity; it will give us the opportunity to  network with leaders from other clubs from  our region; we will also have the  opportunity to meet with and hear from  Probus partners.  

WELFARE - Jackie M

Remember to call Jackie (0412 836 997) if  you know of any members needing  welfare support. 

BIRTHDAYS 

1 May, Jocelyn M and Maureen T;  5 May, Jackie M; 16 May, Kevin  D. 

SPEAKERS - Patrick W

• This month our speaker will be David  Wilkins and his subject is ‘Patrols in the  Stone Age in Papua New Guinea’. 

• In June our Speaker will be Dr. John  Cartmill, Associate Dean of Macquarie  University Hospital. His subject is ‘Some  Principles of Surgery’. This will include  amusing anecdotes from his  

international medical career.” 

MEMBERSHIP - report from Lyn M

There are currently 54 members, as we  have lost three people over the last month:  two have been moved to an inactive list  until maybe October, and one has  resigned. 

I'll be asking for volunteers to support the  membership drive on July 5 at 

the North Sydney Produce Market. It  would be great to have a good 

representation of members to attend for  maybe just an hour - or more if you can. The market runs from 8.00am to  midday. 

‘MAGIC NUMBER’ REMINDER  For those who need a reminder on how to  obtain the Transport Code, please speak  to Lyn, who will give you a refresher and a  printed handout. Having the ‘magic  number’ makes the trip cheaper for  everyone. 

MOVIES - report from Douglas I

Wilding or Baraka, Cremorne Orpheum, to  be confirmed. 

NEXT OUTING 3 June - Noreen B

We have a scenic ferry ride for you leaving  

from Circular Quay at 11.27am, Wharf 5  (F3 line) and arriving at Abbotsford Rowing Club at 12.04pm in time for lunch  at 12.30pm. 

Those who arrive at Circular Quay early  could gather at City Extra and have coffee  beforehand. 

There is plenty of parking behind the  Abbotsford Club, for those who wish to  drive. There are frequent ferries to take  you back to Circular Quay when you  wish. 

It is a pleasant day out, using your own  Opal Card for the ferry and then choosing  and ordering your own meal at the club. 

Please confirm if you are able to come, at the meeting or by email: 

noreenbyrne24@gmail.com or telephone  0412 957 857. 

__________________________________ WALKS - report from Lindsay K

For the last walk we had it all. Good  weather and the ferries were back at  work and we got to do our walk around  Greenwich. Eight of us turned up for  the walk. Penny and myself, Doug and  Mary Anne, Ivan B, Bill B, Peter B and  Judy M. Quite an interesting walk  around the harbour foreshore and  some urban street walking. We  adjourned to the Belroy Hotel again for  lunch. Noreen joined us for lunch. 

We

OUR NEXT WALK will be back to our  normal second Tuesday of the month,  10 June. 

We will meet on platform 3 Wynyard to catch the 9.55am train to 

Lidcombe. We will arrive at the  Olympic Park station at 10.38am. We  

will have our morning coffee at Deja  Brew at the back of the station. 

From there we will head down to Lake Belvedere in Bicentennial Park to  commence our walk. It is a 2 1/2 hour  walk. It is a very flat walk and the path  is in good repair. There is a lot to stop  and look at on this walk: birdlife in the  wetlands, an old boat graveyard plus  the Brick Pit Walk. We will have lunch  at about 1.30pm at the Bella Panini Bar  7 Murray Rose Avenue near the train  station. 

IMPORTANT - OUTING 1 July, 2025 AUSTRALIAN NUCLEAR AND  

SCIENTIFIC TECHNICAL  

ORGANISATION @ LUCAS HEIGHTS 

So far we have 11 members interested in  this outing. To make it worthwhile  organising a community bus we need at  least 15 members to attend. Anyone  interested in attending this outing  should contact Jocelyn Millett at  jonem@bigpond.com.au as soon as  possible by completing the form  attached again to this month’s  Newsletter (last page). There is much to  organise for this outing – including  government security checks so early  notification of proposed attendance is  necessary. 

The community bus will depart and return  from the Northbridge Golf Club. The bus  will cost approximately $40 per person and  the entry to ANSTO is $15. We will dine at  the ANSTO café (at own expense) after  the tour. 

Completed forms have been received from  the following members – 

CHRISTMAS IN JULY - Robin Solomon 

On Tuesday 29th July we are returning  to “Bygone Beauties” at 20-22 Grose  Street, Leura at 12.30pm.  

The cost is $85 per person. Bookings are  limited to 21 people and there will be a cut  off after 21 people have paid.  

We need to have bookings and payment  in by 1 June so please make payments  early. Preferred payments into our bank  account with your name & Christmas in  July under description, or cash to Elizabeth  at the next meeting. Bookings will be made  in order of receipt of payment.  

Trains run regularly from Central with a  relatively easy walk to the museum. There  is a slight hill on return to the station.  It is an easy drive for those who wish to do  so.  

SAFER DRIVING FOR SENIORS - report  from Brenda O

On 7 May Paul and I, along with 3 other  members of Probus, attended the above  workshop in North Sydney. There were 2  excellent presentations - the first by a  Driving Assessor and the second by the  Inspector from Police Traffic Command  NSW (apologies to them if I haven’t  remembered their titles correctly!). Both  were informative and relevant with plenty  of opportunities to ask questions. We all  concluded that it was a worthwhile morning  and, as a bonus, enjoyed the lovely  refreshments as well!  

If their budget permits another course will  be run later in the year. We recommend it! 

NAVAL HISTORICAL CRUISE - report  from Ivan 

A party of 20 turned up for a fascinating  harbour cruise run by the Naval Historical  Society on 15 May. We shared the cruise  with two other Probus clubs and were  treated to a wonderful talk about the  dramatic Japanese mini sub attack on  Sydney Harbour during the night of May  31, 1942. The talk was expertly illustrated  by pictures, maps and diagrams displayed  on large television screens. As we  anchored off Watson Bay we were treated  to a delicious morning tea before moving  to different parts of the harbour that played  a part in that fateful night. 

The cruise returned us to Barangaroo and  a group of us continued to the Sussex  Hotel for lunch. 

TRIVIA - from Mary Ann I  An Amazing Two Letter English Word  Imagine that you are from another country,  

learning to speak English and you  encounter a word that can be a noun, verb,  adjective, adverb and preposition.Well  there is one and that word is UP. It's easy  to understand UP, meaning toward the sky,  but when we awaken in the morning, why  do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a  topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and  why are candidates UP for election. We  call UP our friends, brighten UP a room,  polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers  and clean UP the kitchen. We even lock  UP the house and fix UP the old car.At  other times, this little word has special  meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP  for tickets, work UP an appetite and think  UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing  but to be dressed UP is special. UP is  confusing. A drain must be opened UP  because it is stopped UP. When it  threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP.  When the sun comes out, we say it is  clearing UP. When it rains the earth soaks  it UP. When it doesn’t rain for a while,  things dry UP. One could go on but I'll wrap  it UP, for now. My time is UP so I‟ll shut  UP! 

PREFERRED METHOD OF PAYMENT  

FOR ALL PROBUS ACTIVITIES 

Probus bank account: 

BSB 032-099 

Acc number

Information in Description: name of the  

activity and your name. 

FOR INFORMATION  The next two newsletters, June and July,  will be edited by Annika Tults. Please email  copy to her on annikatults@gmail.com one week before the date of the Probus  meeting. The simplest way is to send the material in an email without any  

attachments. This makes cutting and  pasting and editing the most straight forward procedure 

Probus Tuesday monthly schedule 

1st Tuesday outing 

2nd Tuesday walk 

3rd Tuesday committee meeting 9.15 am  followed by general meeting 10.15 am

4th Tuesday movie 

5th Tuesday picnic/lunch/other activity 

DATES FOR THE DIARY: MAY, JUNE, JULY 

Tuesday 20 May, 9.15am Committee meeting, Northbridge Golf Club Tuesday 20 May, 10.15am Probus general meeting, Northbridge Golf Club Tuesday 27 May film, Cremorne Orpheum, TBA 

Tuesday 3 June, 11.57am from Circular Quay, scenic ferry trip to Abbotsford  Rowing Club for lunch. Details p 2 

Tuesday 10 June, 9.55am train from Wynyard to Lidcombe for walk, Lake  Belvedere, Bicentennial Park. Details pp 2-3 

Tuesday 17 June, 9.15 am Committee meeting, Northbridge Golf Club Tuesday 17 June, 10.15 am Probus general meeting, Northbridge Golf Club Tuesday 24 June film, Cremorne Orpheum, TBA 

COMING IN JULY 

Tuesday 1 July Lucas Heights outing. Details p. 3. Must complete the form on  p 6 and give to Jocelyn 

Tuesday 29 July Christmas in July, Bygone Beauties, Leura, p 3