THE PROBUS CLUB OF NORTH SYDNEY
NEWSLETTER JUNE 2020
PRESIDENT’S PIECE: – Ivan B
Another month
passes and thankfully it seems that the country is in a better position in our
fight against the dreaded virus. We’re certainly not out the woods yet, but at
least some of the restrictions have been lifted. We can now have up to five
visitors to our home and groups of 10 can gather in the open air.
With this in
mind I’m glad to see Oriel has organised a walk for us in Tunks Park on
Tuesday, June 9. Let’s hope the sun shines and a number of us can get together
for a bit of exercise and a picnic lunch – social distancing rules applied,
naturally!
And now, more
changes have been made and from June 1 we can have up to 50 people in
restaurants and clubs. This has prompted Evelyn to organise an ‘outing’ to
Northbridge Golf Club for a lunch on June 23. Doreen, the catering manager,
will ensure all the correct rules are observed. Well done Evelyn!
Thanks to
everyone for their continuing email messages which have kept us entertained
over the past couple of months. Patrick has done a sterling job with his
boundless supply of jokes and YouTube clips, and Shelagh’s musical
contributions have been well received.
For those of
you who are unaware, poor Shelagh had a bad fall at home recently, resulting in
an overnight hospital visit. She’s now back at home nursing three cracked ribs.
Having suffered a similar injury a few years ago I’m well aware how painful the
recovery can be. She assures me she’s now comfortable enough to put time into
judging the photos and stories of the weird and wacky holiday souvenirs that
members entered in this month’s competition.
I hope everyone
enjoys this latest newsletter which Robin has so kindly put together. Last
month’s effort was a great success, and my thanks goes to Robin and all the
others who made contributions.
The Sunday
online link-up continues and everyone is welcome. Douglas will provide you with
details on how to join us for a drink (self-provided) and a chat at 5.30pm.
Stay well and
let’s hope by July we will have a better idea about future meetings.
I’ve included
some more brainteasers, but beware, they’re tougher than last month! Once
again, you’ll find the answers at the end of the newsletter.
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PROBUS
Walk / Get together: - Oriel T
Tuesday June 9 2020 Tunks Park,
Northbridge
With
the easing of isolation rules the Probus Committee has decided it would be
great to start our walking activities on a relaxed informal basis to enable
walkers and non-walkers to meet up for a social chat. To avoid the
necessity of travelling on public transport it was decided participants could
drive to a local park, maybe bring their own chair and sandwich/lunch.
Those
wishing to walk can traverse the park a couple of times, keeping the required
metre and half separation, and returning to a central point to chat and have
their picnic lunch with other members. Those members who will not be
walking may like to arrive a little later.
If
there are more than ten we can split into two groups.
Details:
Meet
Tunks Park at 10.30am in the parking area (there is plenty of parking) and
proceed to walk around the park and maybe traversing part of Flat Rock Gully –
we could do this a couple of times to stretch the legs, if desired.
There
is a mobile Coffee Van and the ‘Barista’ informed me he was there every day
except if it was raining in which case we would not be there either.
There
are public toilets at the park.
Tunks
Park can be accessed from Vale Street or Lower Cliff Ave which both run off
Strathallen Ave Northbridge, on either side of the bridge.
OUTING DAY: – Evelyn K A La Carte Lunch
Tuesday 23rd June Northbridge Golf Club at
Midday
At our Jitsi meeting on Sunday we discussed starting
'outings' again. The thoughts expressed suggested it should not be too
far distant and car transport would be the way to go! Sooo, I am arranging lunch at the Northbridge
Golf Club. I think that fits the bill!
Doreen will ensure seating accords with regulations.
I will need numbers intending to come. If you
could let me know your intentions by say 16th June at the latest please.
For those not driving, if you would like me to arrange
a lift, please let me know. Will do my best to ensure anyone and
everyone is accommodated.
Will look for something more adventurous for July
provided virus matters stay under control.
----------
PHOTO
COMPETITIONS:
Some members have suggested this new idea becomes a permanent feature of our activities, either on a monthly or quarterly basis.
The suggested topic for the next
competition in July is “Guess Who Is the Baby?” So please start rummaging around in your store
cupboard for family photos taken in the first half of the 20th
Century!
As mentioned in a recent email, the closing date for our present competition on “The most memorable, or interesting Holiday Souvenir” has been extended to 30 June, with a plea from Judge Shelagh to limit the MAXIMUM number of words in your description to 50.
Shelagh has suggested we put the best entries on show, when we meet again, as was similarly done with members’ art and craft items a few AGMs ago.”
----------
BRAINTEASERS: – Ivan
B
1.
Crack the Code – the name of a
popular Sydney location is hidden in the following coded message
GFMPH KZIP XZNNVIZB
2.
What are next two numbers in the following
sequence?
1
10 3
9 5 8
7 7 9
6 ? ?
3. Which of these
words is the odd man out?
HOUSE FLOWER
SHED FENCE
4.
Unscramble the letters to find
something that might save your life
H
C P R A A T E U
5.
If you count from 1 to 100, how
many 7s will you pass?
6. Two
men stand together back to back. They each walk forwards 4 metres, turn left
and walk 3 metres. How far are they from one another?
----------
NEW MEMBERS: Shake Jackie M
Jackie M is an Armenian Australian born in
Beirut Lebanon.
Jackie attended primary school in Beirut, and at
the age of eleven, received a scholarship to continue her secondary education
at the Melkonian Educational Institute (MEI) in Nicosia, Cyprus, a boarding
school for Armenian students from nearly 40 countries. Limited finances
resulted in staying on campus during the school holiday periods, which meant
lengthy absences from family and home, challenging times for an eleven year old
girl. Lebanon’s civil war in 1958 caused complications with the scholarship and
the family could not afford the fees to continue Jackie’s tuition at the MEI.
At seventeen years of age, Jackie worked as a
teacher’s aide at her previous primary school, while studying in the evenings,
pursuing her dream job of becoming a kindergarten teacher.
A year later, Jackie met Vic, a press photographer
and they married. Within a few years their two daughters were born. Jackie and
Vic witnessed the civil unrest of 1975 and impending war in Beirut. The ravages
of war and lack of safety, freedom and lost opportunities, particularly for
their children’s wellbeing, education, and future, resulted in the couple’s
decision to migrate to a safe country and build a new life.
Jackie, Vic and their two daughters travelled to
Cyprus and the administrative work to migrate commenced. During these few
months, the girls were enrolled in the local school. The family had a choice of
migrating to the USA, Canada or Australia. Australia was a priority as both
Jackie and Vic had family in Sydney. Within three months, favourable news
arrived from the Australian embassy, and the extended family boarded a flight
to Sydney in December 1976.
The adjustment to a new life and culture was
seamless and embraced by all. Within a few months, the family was overjoyed
with the news of another child on the way. Jackie and Vic’s son was born in
Perth.
To this day, Jackie counts her blessings and
reflects on how fortunate and privileged she feels for adopting Australia as
their new home. New beginnings are never without new challenges. Jackie juggled
motherhood, employment and further education and volunteered as an Armenian
language teacher at the Armenian school on Saturdays. Her first job in Sydney
was at Tuta Laboratories in Lane Cove, then at John Sands the Greeting Card
Company. Later Jackie enjoyed working at Analytica Laboratory, in cancer
diagnostics. Jackie has retained her passion for pedagogy and has worked with
children in different capacities for over two decades, the last ten years at
the SHORE Preparatory School in Northbridge.
Jackie’s family and friends are of paramount
importance to her. She cherishes her four grandchildren and continuously
marvels at the wonders and joy they bestow. As she watches them grow and blossom, Jackie
says she learns new things every day from her grandchildren.
---------
WHAT WE HAVE BEEN DOING
DURING LOCKDOWN
– Brenda & Paul O
This is our son’s dog Billy who
fortunately lives 15 minutes walk away. Since the lockdown we’ve taken to
giving him his weekday walks, and so getting our exercise too. We walk
through bush to reach the oval where he can race around showing off his athleticism
and agility, which always puts a smile on our faces. It’s given us both a sense
of well being and purpose which has been wonderful. We may be
amongst the few who will miss the lockdown!
-
Robin S
I was thrilled to
discover I was able to include Paul & Brenda’s lovely photo with Billy into
this Newsletter.
The lockdown has
forced me to learn new technology skills such as the above, Jitsi link up with
several Probus members and the ability to send group emails !!
----------
READING
RECOMMODATIONS:
Judy I recommends:
The Fatal
Lights: by Tom Mead
- Two Strange
Tragedies of the Sea: The Dunbar (1857) and the Ly-Ee-Moon (1886)
Breaking the
News
- by Tom Mead
- The events,
which changed life in Australia, through the eyes of a man who worked at the
front line of journalism and politics.
Geoff &
Robin P recommend:
‘Where
the Crawdads Sing’ – Delia Owens
‘Olive
Again’ – Elizabeth Strout
‘The
Weekend’ - Charlotte Wood
‘The
Wife and the Widow’ - Christian White
‘Bruny’
- Heather Rose
Jeanette
F recommends:
“Passionate
Spirit” – Cate Haste
The life of Alma Mahler (1879-1964) -
artist, intellect, author & socialite
“The Anarchy” - William Dalrymple - a graphic retelling of the East India Company's “relentless rise” from provincial
trading company to the pre-eminent military and political power in all of
India.
----------
ORIEL’S TRAVEL ADVENTURES:
My very first
plane trip was with three friends flying from London to Palma, Majorca for a
holiday. It was at nighttime and we were
not seated together. I sat next to Terry Thomas, the Comedian/Actor/Entertainer
who regaled me with various stories for the whole flight whilst drinking brandy
from a hip flask and he told me he had flown in planes held together with
string!
Another time at
London airport I was seated at a coffee bar and Wilfrid Hyde White who achieved international
recognition in his later years for his role as Colonel Pickering in the 1964
film version of the musical My Fair Lady sat next to me and we had a very pleasant
conversation.
Whilst on
holiday in Fiji in the late 1960s with a couple of friends our hotel packed us
a picnic basket and we hired a boat to take us to some remote uninhabited
island for the day to explore and go swimming.
We had arranged for the boat to pick us up again around 4 o’clock but he
failed to do so. Fortunately at around
7.30pm a cruise liner anchored off the island and they came ashore for a
barbecue. After telling the Captain of
our dilemma he offered to take us back to Suva but said we should not have paid
the boat owner up front for the return trip.
So a lesson for young naïve travellers!
I had a rather
cute biro, which had a clear liquid in the body of it with Beefeaters that
looked as if they were marching to the pen point when writing and then would
march back again when the pen was lifted up.
Whilst at the airport in Dakar, Senegal an African official saw this
biro and wanted it but I was determined to keep it. He became quite aggressive which attracted
the attention of two other officials who came over and sorted the problem. I was very happy to fly out of Dakar later
that day with my biro!
----------
RECIPE: – Fran McC
SAVOURY CHEESE ROLL
250g.
CREAM CHEESE
60gms
BUTTER
1
TABLESPOON GRATED PARMESAN CHEESE
2
TABLESPOONS TOMATO SAUCE
2
GHERKINS, FINELY CHOPPED
4
SHALLOTS, CHOPPED
SALT
AND PEPPER
¼
CUP CHOPPED PARLSEY
-
BEAT CREAM CHEESE AND BUTTER UNTIL SMOOTH
-
ADD PARMESAN CHEESE, TOMATO SAUCE, GHERKINS, SHALLOTS, SALT AND PEPPER
-
DIVIDE MIXTURE IN HALF. ROLL EACH HALF IN CHOPPED PARSLEY, FORMING
TWO NEAT ROLLS
-
WRAP IN GREASEPROOF PAPER. REFRIGERATE SEVERAL HOURS
-
SLICE, SERVE WITH SAVOURY BISCUITS
- IF YOU DON’T NEED TO USE THE
SECOND ROLL, IT FREEZES VERY WELL
-------
JOKEMASTER OF THE MONTH: - Patrick
W
”A Definition of Chutzpah!”
A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner in
New York for a dollar each. Each day a
young man would leave his office building at lunch time and as he passed the
pretzel stand he would leave $1.00, but never take a pretzel.
This little kindness
went on for some three years. The two of them never spoke. One day as the young
man passed the old lady's stand and left his dollar as usual, the pretzel lady
spoke to him for the first time. Without blinking an eye she said: "They're
$1.25 now.”
and
from Douglas Irvin
Clive W came across this poem, which was written in 1869 and
reprinted during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1919
- Very apt for the world’s present pandemic
By
Kathleen O’Mara:
And the people stayed home
And read books
And listened
And they rested
And did exercises
And made art and played
And learned new ways of being
And stopped and listened
More deeply
Someone meditated, someone prayed
Someone met their shadow
And people began to think differently
And people healed.
And in the absence of people who
Lived in ignorant ways
Dangerous, meaningless and
heartless,
The earth also began to heal
And when the danger ended and
People found themselves
They grieved for the dead
And made new choices
And dreamed of new visions
And created new ways of living
And completely healed the earth
Just as they were healed.
----------
MEMORIES AND
A TRIBUTE TO OUR NURSES -
Robin S
On Tuesday 12th
May 2020 the World Health Organization designated International Nurses Day in
remembrance of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s
birthday and in recognition of the contribution nurses are making to world
health.
Florence
Nightingale’s contribution to Sydney was significant. In 1868 Lucy Osburn, an English born nurse
who had trained at the School of Nursing founded by Florence Nightingale,
arrived with five other nursing sisters to take over our growing settlement’s
Infirmary and Dispensary known then as the Rum Hospital, which was to become
Sydney Hospital, laying the foundations of modern nursing in Australia.
In the 60’s as
a very naïve young girl I ascended, with 30 other equally naïve girls, the
steps of the Nightingale Wing in Sydney Hospital to commence my nursing
training. We were, suitably or so we thought, dressed in hats & gloves, as
was the fashion of the day. However, we
were soon given heavy-duty cotton dresses, which were to be covered with
stiffly starched white aprons. We were also given starched caps, black
stockings and shoes.
My general
nursing training was hospital based and lasted for four years. We were expected to live in the hospital
grounds. Curfews were frequently broken and marriage was forbidden. This rule
was also broken. I remember without fondness the night duties when it was
difficult to stay awake and after your shift had ended you were expected to go
to a lecture – the countless dishing up of revolting food, which had been
delivered to the wards in large heated metal containers on wheels. Giving
injections, with barbed needles before the days of disposable needles and
syringes. The constant sterilizing of equipment was a never-ending task. And dare I mention the cleaning of the pan
rooms. Our wards were inspected daily by
the on duty Matron to make sure everything was spick and span, the patients
were sitting up in bed expecting to look well, no matter their illness, with
their bed linen folded down neatly exactly the same as their neighbour’s.
However, my
days at Sydney Hospital also brought many fond memories. Above all, the
camaraderie with my fellow nurses is still with me to this day for which I am
very grateful. My nursing days ended
when I chose family life.
I felt it was
necessary to write about this in this Newsletter in a small effort to give
thanks to our current health workers who are under such pressure in this
present world health crisis.
There is a
wonderful museum of the history and artifacts of Sydney Hospital in the
beautiful Nightingale Wing in Macquarie Street, which is open every Tuesday
from 10am – 3pm.
However, you
too will need to climb the same steps to the museum!
------------
ANSWERS TO IVAN’S BRAIN TEASERS:
1. TUNKS PARK
CAMMERAY (In the code, the alphabet has been reversed eg Z=A, Y=B)
2. 11, 5 (The
alternative numbers are increased by two or decreased by one)
3. FLOWER – It’s not made by man
3. PARACHUTE 5. 20
6. 10 metres (Remember your Pythagoras! The men
have created two right-angled triangles with 3,4,5 sides)
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WELL WISHES:
Wishing Shelagh a speedy recovery.
We look forward to her judgements in our present photo competition and
to seeing her back in good health at our Probus meetings when life returns to
“normal”.
MANY HAPPY
RETURNS OF THE DAY FOR YOUR JUNE BIRTHDAY:
Judy C -
06 Sally J - 06 Robyn P -06
Ivan B -
08 Judy M - 10 Janice G - 16
Ches
W- 21 Louise L -
27
----------
A
big thank you to all who sent contributions this month.
We
welcome more contributions
Please
send them to: Robin S on: rsolomon493@gmail.com
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