Posted by Co-President Jack Kraan:
This week I spoke at the Combined Probus Club of Berwick at the invitation of one of our Past Presidents, Bert Ainge (1986-87), to tell them about Rotary and our Club. The Combined Probus Club is one of three such Clubs in our area. The others are the Probus Clubs of Berwick and Casey.
A Probus club is a local association of retired and semi-retired professional and business people, and others who have had some measure of responsibility in any field of worthy endeavour, who are of character and respected in their communities. Clubs meet regularly for fellowship and an extension of their interests.
The Probus Club movement was formed in the United Kingdom in 1965. Probus had its beginnings in two clubs, both created by members of Rotary. The Campus Club in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire and The Probus Club of Caterham, Surrey were the beginning of an organisation that now has an informal network of Clubs around the world, and about 110,000 members in Australia.
The name is an amalgam of the abbreviation of the words professional and business. Probus is also a Latin word meaning honest or virtuous, from which the English word “probity” is derived.
The Probus Club was an initiative of our Club and our late Past President, Roger Gordon, and was formed back in 1983. The Club currently has about 60 members and meets monthly at the Old Cheese Factory, as well as undertaking various social activities.
In many ways, I was preaching to the converted as several members of the Club are Past Presidents, or former office bearers or members of our Rotary Club, or their partners.
It was an ideal opportunity to inform members of our community about our Club and spread the word about Rotary.
Thanks to PP Gus for his illuminating presentation on the Australian Bureau of Meteorology at our last meeting. I think we all learnt quite a bit.
Now we look forward to hearing Co-President Geoff’s & Di’s experiences on the Ghan and in the Northern Territory.
Co-President Jack Kraan
