Probus North Sydney

 Newsletter 351                             October 2021     

President’s report:  It was a real pleasure to have so many of you join the September general meeting.  I apologise for the poor quality of the TED talk.  I now know not to repeat that.  Perhaps we can have a real speaker at our October meeting which will be on Zoom again.  Douglas is working on that option as I write.  We are now getting close to being able to have face-to-face meetings again, most likely in November.  We need to wait to hear how many members will be able to attend.  We have a QR code for checking in to walks and outings when they can resume, which may be as soon as mid-October. 

Douglas’ small Zoom meetings have started with a few of us meeting up to talk about travel adventures. 

Your committee is working on promoting the club at the February 2022 general meeting.  Peter and Noreen B are working on producing a poster to be displayed in local libraries and on information boards; I am asking local papers to add our meeting to their “What’s On” sections, and we are asking all members to bring at least one friend who may be interested in joining.  Instead of an invited speaker we will ask various members to give a short talk on what they like about our Probus club.  Let’s really get behind this promotion.  Ivan is leading a subcommittee to look at ways to increase membership.  If you are interested in helping with this please contact him. 

It seems that we will have reached the magic 70% vaccinated mark by 11th October.  We are therefore planning to meet at Tunks Park on Tuesday 12th October.  We should be able to host 20 people in such a setting by then. 

Robin S is leading a subcommittee to organise our Christmas luncheon.  It has been booked at the Northbridge Golf Club for Tuesday 14th December.  Keep an eye out for further information regarding this.   

Membership report:  Our membership stands at 51, (34 women, 17 men). 

Many Happy Returns of the Day for Your October birthday:  Jeanette F 10, Eleanor S26, and Joan B 29. 

Probus Outings:  Unfortunately, we are not able to resume our outings yet, though we hope you have been able to explore your neighbourhood as thoroughly as we have.  So many bush tracts to explore and little connecting lanes to discover.  When we resume you should have many outings to suggest that you have read about during your hours of reading papers and magazines.  Looking forward to seeing you all again, Noreen and Peter 

Probus Walk/Get together:  Tuesday, l2th October 2021.  Tunks Park, Northbridge

Event: “Come From Away”:  Our third attempt to see this due to the Covid lockdown cancellations has now been rescheduled for Wednesday 15th December.  Hopefully next year another good show will come along and the booking process will be less dramatic and more straightforward!  Thanks to our treasurer, Janice, for all the help over the last 8 months in making the arrangements.  (Note: The excellent factual documentary of the event at Gander on which ‘Come From Away’ is based, may be seen for free on SBS On Demand, and is entitled “Control of the Skies”.) 

The 5th Tuesday of the month movie on November 30th:  Hopefully, we will see the latest James Bond movie, “No Time To Die”, starring Daniel Craig, at the Hayden Orpheum.  More about this in the next bulletin!   

Scam Calls and Emails (Douglas Irvin)  ASIC has warned of an increasing number of spam emails and phone calls to look out for.  These criminals are ruthless and very skilled.  Never answer or call back or press a number requested.  This only proves yours is a valid number leading to more spam.  If you have any doubt call the Company concerned on a number YOU look up.  A new technique is called spoofing and displays the number of a known company but is not them. 

This Youtube is of a series where a computer whiz baits spammers.  He pretends to be elderly and when they connect their computer he deletes thousands of their files.  Some are passed on to authorities for prosecution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTIRsuM_VvE 

The original email scams were called ‘Nigerians’ as they originated from there.  They now come from anywhere in the world.  Millions of emails are sent out promising a share in a large fortune but one has to pay a ‘Transfer fee’ to get it out of the country.  They ask for ever increasing sums of money.  Even if only a few pay up it is still lucrative.  Some people have gone to Nigeria hoping to get their money back and have ended up dead.  Ruthless criminals. A site called .419eater.com lists examples where people bait these scammers.  Here is an amusing example: https://www.419eater.com/html/bigman.htm 

And lastly a spoof Nigerian Conference: https://spreadsheetpage.com/nigerian-emailconference/ 

No Newsletter for September 2021