From the President: It was very encouraging to see such a good attendance at our Christmas lunch and my thanks again to all the organisers and our two entertainers.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year, and hope you had an enjoyable festive season with family and friends, (and didn’t put on as much weight as me)!
I am looking forward to another year of fun and fellowship at Probus, and I know our Committee plans to continue with interesting talks, enjoyable outings, healthy walks (after the mercury falls a bit), testing monthly quizzes, plus an occasional free morning tea. . . .to name a few anticipated highlights.
May 2019 bring everyone Joy, Peace and Prosperity!
Membership Report: Our membership remains at 56, (34 ladies, 22 men).
Many Happy Returns of the Day for Your January Birthday: Shelagh K 05, Barrie G11, Judy McD 12, Judy I 21, and Josephine T 22.
Guest Speakers: Today we welcome Past President Kevin D, whose talk is entitled “My seven year journey to the Cairo garbage dump”. Next month, Clinton Moore will joins us with the topic, “Recording Family History”.
Note: All our Probus meetings are generally held on the third Tuesday of every month at 10:15am. The next meeting will be held on 19th February 2019. The committee meetings are conducted in the Northbridge Golf Club at 9:15am on the same day as the meeting. Members are welcome to attend.
Program of Activities
Probus Walkers: Tuesday 12th February 2019. Lunch at The Little Snail, 50 Murray Street, Pyrmont.
This year again there will be a luncheon on our normal walking day. Walkers and non-walkers are welcome.
Transport: Park Street bus stop (between Pitt and George Sts., near Woolworths) bus 389 to Maritime Museum (runs every 10 minutes). Alight from bus at last bus stop (Maritime Museum) and walk up to Murray Street and then LEFT over the pedestrian crossing to The Little Snail.
Time: 12 noon. Cuisine: French, three courses, 5/6 choices each course. Cost: $39.00.
Steak $3 extra. Alcohol and any additional side dishes are extra. If you would like to attend, please list your name today or advise Oriel (9438 3893) by Wed., 6th February.
Probus Outings:
Tuesday 22nd January 2019: To Richmond on the train and a lunch cruise on the “Hawkesbury Paddlewheeler”. Take T1 train line leaving 8:49am from North Sydney Station, arriving Richmond Station at 10:22am. Let’s meet 2nd to last carriage. For those catching a train or bus to North Sydney, please arrive in time to catch the 8:49am train. Cost of lunch cruise: $35.00. For purposes of booking, I will need confirmed numbers by today.
Tuesday 26th February: Ken Duncan Photographic Gallery. Ken Duncan is recognised internationally as a gifted and prolific landscape photographer, and has won numerous international awards. Cost: $4 per entry for ’package’ tour, talk, and film. Bus leaves Northbridge at 9:00am. Lunch TBA.
Fifth Tuesday Luncheon 29th January: The venue is The Oaks Hotel, on the corner of Military and Ben Boyd Roads, Neutral Bay, (9953 5515), at 12 noon. Please contact John Nixon, 9929 6054 for any additional information.
Meet a Member—Ivan B: I was born in the UK, one of four boys. After leaving school, I began work as a reporter on the local paper until 1973, when I set out on a round-the-world adventure with a colleague, James Lovatt. As you may remember from my talk last year, our mode of transport across Europe and Asia was by double-decker bus. Eventually we sailed from Singapore to Australia where we spent 18 months working in Perth, Sydney and Darwin exploring the country in between.
In November 1972, we took a boat to New Zealand for two months, then on to Mexico, the US and Canada where we landed jobs as taxi drivers in Vancouver. James was called home when his father became seriously ill, but I continued to hitch-hike across Canada, picking up casual jobs along the way. After two and a half years I returned to the UK to take up a job on another local paper.
But the travel bug had bitten and before long James and I were off again, this time to South Africa where we drove cab in Cape Town before traveling up through Africa and back to the UK. We then flew to New York, where we bought a huge American car and motored to Vancouver to resume taxi driving. The winter weather eventually got the better of us and we returned to Sydney.
After a summer cab driving in Sydney, our next adventure was to buy a retired double-decker bus and drive friends to Cairns where I found work singing in pubs and restaurants. This continued for the next 7 years—Sydney in the summer, and either Cairns in the winter or trips back to the UK.
Then on New Year’s Eve 1982, I met my future wife, Rachel, and everything changed. The bus was sold and I found work as an insurance investigator. Rachel and I married and settled in Sydney. I reunited with James and his wife Christine, to work with them at their crossword business, Lovatts Publications. This became my life for the next 23 years, 18 of them as editor of 21 puzzle magazines until I retired at the age of 68. What a life!
Rachel and I have two daughters, Victoria, a vet, and Francesca, a teacher. I still sing with Ku-Ring-Gai Male Choir and play regular golf to keep fit.
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