News

The 2024 Activity Fair was a great success!

Please note the following new clubs and add them to your 'personal profiles'.

1. Bookworms Reborn - 2nd book club
2. Euchre - Tues, May 14 is the first game night, don't miss out!
3. Journey Junkies - a new travel group
4. The Skiing Beavers - downhill at Beaver Valley Ski Club

There are many other activities to take part in.

Check out our website and see what tickles your fancy!

The AGM will take place in early April.

As in the past few years, the AGM election will be done virtually (using Survey Monkey), to ensure all members have a chance to participate.

On April 8th, you will receive an email with a link to the survey and will have a week to complete it.

Our By-laws require a quorum of 25%, so 92 members. Please take the time to review these documents and to vote in the April election. You can complete the survey any time between April 8th and April 14th, 2024

One of our favourite and most well attended events is coming up on April 10!

Your invitation has been sent out via email!

The latest newsletter has all the details from our activity convenor Shelley Austin!

The President, Lori Hattle, has sent us all a reminder in an e-blast!

Activity Coordinators are designing their tables to pique your interest!

It’s all happening at the Flesherton Kinplex on April 10 from 1 – 3 pm!

The entire management committee and all of the enthusiastic activity coordinators and a crew of many supporting volunteers are looking forward to chatting with all of you.

Don’t forget your name tag!

The Hanover and Area Probus club are organizing the following 2 bus trips through Great Canadian Holidays. Because they are custom bus trips, they are not posted on their website so people wanting to book need to call Amanda direct. Please see  information below.

• We now have 21 people booked the “One of a Kind Show” bus trip, so we still need 4 more to make it a go.
• We now have 14 people booked the “Royal Winter Fair” in Toronto bus trip, so still need 11 more to make it a go.

Please consider these fun day away trips and book your seat now.

 

Day Trip #1     Royal Agricultural Winter Fair-Toronto (see attachment)

DATE:                 Tuesday Nov 7^th  2023

TIME:                 Arrive approx 11:30 am – depart approx 3:30 p.m.

COST:                 $130.00 per person (includes admission to fair, motor coach & tax: does not include driver gratuity)

PICK-UPS:          8:00 am- Hanover Tim Horton’s- at Food Basics Mall

                             8:20 am- Walkerton Community Centre     

DEADLINE TO BOOK:  Wednesday October 30, 2023   (Require a min of 25 people)

To book call Amanda at Great Canadian 1-800-461-8687 Ext 293

Itinerary:

 

1. Comfort Stop – Tim Hortons - 230 Centennial Road, Orangeville – 10:00am –10:20am
2. Royal Agricultural Winter Fair – 100 Princes’ Blvd, Toronto – 11:30am – 3:30pm
3. Comfort Stop – Tim Hortons - 230 Centennial Road, Orangeville – 5:00pm – 5:20pm
4. Depart for Home (arriving at approx. 7:30pm)

 

Since 1975, the One Of A Kind Shows features the most talented makers, artisans, and designers from across Canada. From art to apparel, food to furniture you will discover awe-inspiring pieces—ALL MADE IN CANADA by gifted artisans.

 

Day Trip #2     One Of A Kind Show- Toronto (see attachment)

DATE:                 Friday, Nov 24^th  2023

TIME:                 Arrive approx 11:00 a.m.  – depart approx 3:30 p.m.

COST:                 $125.00 per person (includes show admission, motor coach & tax, does not include driver gratuity)

PICK-UP:            8:00 am at Tim Horton’s-at Hanover Food Basics Mall

DEADLINE TO BOOK:  Fri Nov 17, 2023  (Require min of 25 people) 

To book call Amanda at Great Canadian 1-800-461-8687 Ext 293

 

Itinerary:

1. Comfort Stop – Tim Horton’s - 230 Centennial Road, Orangeville – 9:30 am – 9:50 am
2. One of a Kind Show – Exhibition Place – 100 Princes’ Blvd, Toronto – 11:00 am – 3:30 pm
3. Depart for home
4. Comfort Stop - Tim Horton’s, 230 Centennial Rd, Orangeville, ON (5:00 pm – 5:20 pm)
5. Arriving at approx 6:40 pm

On Tues., June 13th many from our Probus group enjoyed a great tour of the Tom Thomson art gallery in Owen Sound. After finding our way through the library into the art gallery, we were off to the races. (The art gallery is undergoing important accessibility upgrades, including the reconstruction of the front entrance and the replacement of the Gallery’s passenger lift with an elevator.)  Many of our participants mentioned our informative and capable tour guides (Shannon Anderson and Ian Dickey) as they discussed two of the main exhibitions. One highlight for many of us was Sara Angelucci’s unique Nocturnal Botanical portraits of native and non-native invasive plants which was part of her exhibit entitled Undergrowth. It was also interesting to be reminded of Tom Thomson and his amazing contribution to Canadian art, even though he only lived to be 39 years old. Our Probus group donated 190 dollars in total to the art gallery which is fantastic. After the art gallery we headed off to Kelso Beach to enjoy a potluck lunch and some social time by the beautiful beach. Where else can you have 3 types of potato salads as well as many other delicious dishes? Maybe that was why we all forgot to do the hike! Keep an eye out for our next special event on the probus website. 

January 31 was the last day for our existing members to renew their membership for 2023. We have had an amazingly successful renewal drive this year. In April last year we had under 300 members and now we are 311 strong! Many thanks to everyone who has renewed.

With such a healthy membership, we can look forward to continued vibrancy in our activities and club events.

Spread the word among your friends to come and join us. New members can join at any time.

The Probus Christmas Luncheon this year was well attended with a group of 107. Due to the lack of snow it may not have felt like Christmas outside but we were greeted with the Christmas feeling as soon as we entered the Falls Inn with several Christmas trees, many decorations and a great staff who treated us with care. The meal was excellent with plenty of food for all. It took several minutes around the desert table to decide on what to choose as everything looked so good. The staff at The Falls Inn did a fabulous job for us and were very accommodating. Door prize gift cards were won by several lucky members. See you all next year.

Please see the member newsletter for photos

After a two-year hiatus due to you know what, 40 eager golfers assembled at the Markdale Golf & Country Club for the reinstated annual tournament. This one was the lucky thirteenth - at least for organizer Barry Matthews who won for the very first time with much help from his “stacked” team (pun intended.) Credit is also due to Dan Demoe and team who also shot an even par 34, but by rules of golf, counting back from the 9th, their bogey on nine compared to Barry’s team par, put them in second place. Sigh!

As usual the Markdale club provided an amazing lunch with a pre-booked choice of chicken, beef or veggie burger, mixed salad with several dressing choices, and some great locally baked cookies and squares -- all enjoyed at the 10th hole, an expanded patio overlooking the 9th green.

Most honest golfer went to Rose Macdonald’s team. Most amazing incident was when Debbie McClure’s golf cart decided to roll off the tee to take a swim in the pond on the seventh. It took the whole foursome to get it back out. The three PROBUS gift cards for a popular beverage shop went to Ron Carson, Dora-Lynn Davies, and Paulette Vance. The generous gift from Beaver Valley Ski Club, thanks to Read Hilton, went to Carolyn West, whose husband Paul Drouillard won two green fee vouchers, as did Holly Demoe and Lou Fowler. Last, but we’d like to think not least, Joseph Liberman and three friends of his choice won the boat cruise around Lake Eugenia donated by the Matthews.

As always, a great time was had by all. The invite for July 10, 2023, is already set up. Save the date and book early.

Debbie McClure with the infamous swimming cart, Holly Demoe, Peter Dickie and Glenda Carson leaving the fifth green after sinking a long putt.

10th hole burger buffet

Doug Alton, Dora-Lynn Davies, Helen Anderson and Dan Demoe waiting to tee-off on the eighth. Next stop nine where a bogie robbed them of an under-par win.

Doug Alton presenting the prestigious Presidentʼs cup to Suzanne Fleming, Sandi Dickie, Barry Matthews, and Brenda Stephens. Barry confessed he couldnʼt have done it without Les Girls – especially after he convinced them to keep their heads down.

It was a great day for relaxing and socializing on the patio after all that scrambling.

Can you believe we have not met in person to celebrate our great group of Volunteers since 2019!

Over the past two years even though meeting in person had been put on hold or provincial guidelines mandated restrictions on numbers of people gathering and providing a socially distant environment, activity coordinators continued to be creative and find ways to keep in touch and engage with their members. Many educated themselves on various new technologies such as Zoom or Tricksters. We can’t thank them enough!

In addition, our Management Committee continued to hold everyone together. They provided superior guidance, support and leadership at a time when we needed it the most. We also need to thank the amazing Wild Apricot Team for all their time, research, planning, training and dedication to bringing this web platform to fruition. Thank you!

Through all of this, our amazing volunteers have proven to be a truly committed, loyal and dedicated bunch of individuals to this thriving club. Because of them, we offer a number of indoor and outdoor activities to keep our members active, mentally engaged and provide opportunities to connect with each other and build friendships through common interests. Thank you!

The Volunteer Tea Party was a beautiful way to celebrate them. We met at the Feversham Pavilion on a lovely summer day with music playing, loads of locally grown strawberries, fresh whipping cream, cake and refreshments. We had an amazing time building our own Strawberry Shortcakes, talking and catching up. Some may have enjoyed a second or third helping, but being the amazing club we are, there was no judgement.

There is always room at the table for ‘more volunteers’. Without volunteers we would not have this amazing club offering over 25 activities. Many hands make light work. We welcome members to share the load and to ‘take a turn’ when Coodinators are stepping down. Please consider volunteering your time.

The Probus scavenger tart tour was held on June 1st.  The rain stopped just in time for an enjoyable day of solving riddles, tasting delicious tarts, and socializing with our fellow probus members. The competition was fierce. Apparently, Steve was so competitive that he took the air out of the Austin’s tires making them almost one of the last teams to come in! 

 Two teams did manage make it to all the bakeries and successfully answered questions on the bakeries they visited.  The two teams tied for first place were the B-Bad group ( Bob, Brenda, Dave, AnneMarie) and the Betty Boop group (Jeff, Jeanne, Guy, Bianca). Congratulations to all of you! 

The participants of the scavenger hunt also had another job to do, and that was to search for the most delicious butter tart. It was a fierce competition as there were many delicious tarts along the route. After tallying all of the evaluations, the Flesherton bakery came in first, followed very closely by the Thornbury bakery and Ravenna Country Market. Congratulations to the Flesherton bakery and to all of the great bakeries involved in our scavenger hunt. Thanks also to everyone who came out and participated in this event.