Probus North Sydney

 

Newsletter 367                                                                                       18 April 2023 

Presidents report:  We can’t begin a new Probus year without an enormous thank you to the previous committee under the inspired leadership of past President Mary Ann Irvin, not for one but the two previous years under unprecedented COVID difficulties.  The untiring and committed work by Mary Ann was, is and will continue to be appreciated.  It will not be forgotten. 

I doubt that my presidency will be nearly as momentous, but I will try my very best for the club.  As I said on induction, my presidency could perhaps be described as an ALDI year: Good, Different! 

Most of us has a life outside Probus.  We all have busy lives, commitments and we need time to enjoy our family and friends as well as a good dose of solitude from time to time!  I am thinking that we should try to make it easier and simpler for our management committee members. 

So I hope to focus on three main objectives for the coming year that I would like to pursue.  I do so hope you will agree! 

1. To attempt to streamline and reduce the workload including telephone, texts and correspondence that Committee members have to deal with each month. 

2. To encourage as many members as possible to contribute to and be involved in the running of our club by participation in all sorts of projects big, small, tiny, regular or one offs that they will find personally enjoyable and suitable to their skills, abilities and interests.  Our club has a plethora of expertise and skills that could be shared and enjoyed. 

3. To develop a way of assisting the older members to continue their membership, attendances, outings and enjoyment of our club whenever possible.  We have an increasing number of very valuable older members who have contributed over the years to the running of our club.  We owe them heaps! 

If you have any thoughts on how we might achieve these objectives, do please let me know. 

Our first meeting for the new Probus year is the up-coming 40th Anniversary Luncheon on Tuesday 18th April 2023. Mary Ann has put so much into the organization of this exciting event and there is still time to purchase tickets.  It promises to be a great fun day.  Do try to be there to enjoy the festivities.  And a reminder to wear your badge, and to bring cash for raffle tickets: two dollars per ticket or five dollars for three tickets. 

Membership report:  Our membership stands at 57 (37 women and 20 men). 

Many happy returns of the day for your April birthday:  Bob M 05, Gillian W 09, Enzo S 18 and Geoff P 29.   

 

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 the 16th May at the Northbridge Golf Club.  The committee meetings are conducted at 9:15am on the same day.  Members are welcome to attend. 

Guest speakers:  Today we welcome former ambassador Richard Broinowski, whose topic is “Diplomacy:  Things we learn along the way”.  Next month Ros Barnes will tell us about “Auslan Sign Language”. 

Probus events:  

5th Tuesday of the month Movie Event.  The next movie for all to attend will be on Tuesday the 30th May, so please put that date in your diaries now.  The movie we will be seeing will be announced in the May Newsletter followed by a separate email with a session time, usually released by the theatre in the week before we are to attend. 

Several of us from the impromptu movie goer’s group have been busy this month, and have had on offer to see: 

1. “Don Quixote”, a ballet movie of the Australian Ballet performance.  I absolutely loved it.  Vivacious dancing and colourful costumes and sets. 

2. “The Innocents”, a comedy from the French Movie Festival.  The four of us who saw it enjoyed it very much. 

3. “Living”, starring Bill Nighy.  We went to a late afternoon session followed by an early dinner at the Chinese restaurant over the road from the Orpheum.  Making an outing like this with a movie and a meal makes for a nice day out and is very enjoyable. 

4. “EO”, a movie about a donkey and not what we expected, ultimately being about animal cruelty. 

I hope this is enough variety but would love it if others in the group would put movies they would like to see out there for others in our group to enjoy seeing with them. 

Probus Outing:  Unfortunately there isn’t an outing for April because Anzac Day falls on the date.  We look forward to many more outings as the year progresses.  Noreen.  

Probus Walkers:  Tuesday 9th of May, Cammeray to Tunks Park.  On our recent walk we had only 5 walkers: myself, Ivan, Jocelyn, Carol and visitor Claire Hunt.  A lot of people were away.  We walked from Spit Bridge to Beauty Point and back.  It was a beautiful day, didn’t see much wildlife but we met plenty of dogs being walked by their owners and handlers.  We had lunch at the Mosman Hotel where we met up with Peggy Burnett. 

For our next walk we will meet at Cammeray shopping centre at 10:30am.  There are a number of coffee shops there.  Maggios is the biggest, and the most popular, but we can choose others if it is too busy.  We will walk down to Tunks Park.  There is a coffee shop there if anyone is in need of a reviver.  From there we will walk along Flatrock Creek to the Burley Griffin Incinerator Café for lunch.  After lunch it is only a short walk to bus stops on Willoughby Road.  It is a 4 klm walk.  It is downhill to Tunks Park.  Along the creek it is a flat level walk.  There are some stairs when we climb out to Flat Rock Reserve.  And a reasonably level walk to the Incinerator Café.  It is an easy, moderate walk of about 2 hours, and there is only one lot of stairs to climb. 

Happy Fortieth Anniversary!