PROBUS CLUB OF SOUTH LONDON

Co-President's Message

Hello all.  Let us introduce ourselves -  Karen Banks and Marian McIndoe co-vice presidents. As Susan Wolnik our president is away, we co-chaired the November 16th meeting.

Thank you all for attending the meeting. Our speaker Joy Wendling spoke on Reconcilliation. She was very informative and we all learned a great deal.

As of November 16th our membership is 102 and we have 5 new membership applications.

Deanna Wright our "Who Am I" speaker was very interesting and entertaining. Thank you Shirley Harris for introducing Deanna.

We would like to thank the Management Committee members: Susan Wolnik - president, Treasurer - Mike Smith, Membership - Patrick Scott,  Special Events - Nancy Fazackerley, Newsletter - Brigitte Davidson, Past Co -Presidents -  Shirley and Bob Harris. They have all been extremely helpful to us adjusting to our position of Co-Vice president.

We  want to let you know that this committee is working very hard for you, the members, and we appreciate your input and suggestions. We also thank all members who participate in meetings and special interest groups. We are here for YOU.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and hope to see you all in 2023.

General Meeting & Speaker, November 16, 2022

Joy Wendling was our November speaker. For a long time Joy has been interested in Indigenous culture, and used these teachings as a Brownie leader. So, when the Presbyterian Church in Canada asked its congregations to become involved in Healing and Reconciliation, Joy was happy to volunteer. Her first task was to introduce the congregation to Indigenous history, particularly as the PCC ran some Indian Residential Schools. With the minister’s support, the history and current issues of Indigenous peoples have been gradually introduced through special services for Indigenous Peoples Day, Orange Shirt Day and Red Dress Day, as well as presentations. In 2019 Joy was part of a PCC journey of reconciliation which visited First Nation centres and reserves in Northern Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. This trip was life-changing for Joy and she returned even more committed to truth and reconciliation. Her church continued to have services for special Indigenous days on-line during the pandemic. Joy has spoken to groups, attended Indigenous gatherings, and connected with First Nations people, as well as conducting the Blanket Exercise, a participatory exercise to introduce people to the complete history of the settlement of Canada by Europeans. This history is complicated and reconciliation will not happen quickly, but Joy is committed to doing what she can to further the process.

Our Speaker for Who Am I: Deanne Wright

The individual who is going to share her biography is a new member who joined our Club in September, just two months ago.  Deanne Wright was delighted to accept my invitation to speak with us today. She is a very social woman with a wonderful sense of humour and is very comfortable with speaking to groups.

Birthdays

December:

Barbara Boothe, Ray Goldfarb; John Wolnik.

Social Events

The sign-up sheets for the events below will be available at the next several meetings. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact Nancy Fazackerley.

December - Christmas lunch is December 14th at the Highland with the cash bar open at 11:30. Our entertainment is a musician called Bernie Gilmour

January – mini golf at Fleetway on January 24 at 10:00 a.m. with lunch after at State and Main on Wonderland Rd N. Cost is $13.50 plus lunch extra.

February – Tour of the Royal Canadian Regiment Museum on Oxford St E. at 10:00 a.m. on February 21st. Cost is $10/person

March - TBD

April – TBD

May – Bus trip to Niagara Falls for a tour of the hydro plant and Bird Kingdom.  Date is May 2nd or 9th,  but will be confirmed soon. Approximate cost is $135 plus lunch. If we don’t sell at least 20 tickets the trip will be cancelled

June – lunch TBD

Trip to Walters Theatre June 13 for performance of music from the Bee Gees, Beatles, Beach Boys and Motown. Cost is $70. Only 5 tickets left and this will open to friends and family January 1st.

Contact Sheila James.

Watch for more details at the January general meeting.

Please pay for all events ahead of time, by cheque made payable to Probus Club of South London and note on the cheque which event it is for. This will secure you a place at the event. There will be more information about events in January, February, March, April and May at the next general meeting.

Website

Most of our current club documents/records are now available on the website. We have just added new "buttons" on the right hand side of our Home Page for  NEWSLETTER, CALENDAR  and DIRECTORY (Membership Listing).

Hot off the press! We have just added a PHOTOS button. You can click on it from our home page, or click here to see all of our photos this year!

Most of the information is available on our website without the need to login. However to use the online membership Directory or update your profile, you will need to  LOG IN—as this information is for members only. 

To access the site, just copy and paste: https://www.southlondonprobus.ca into your web browser. Please note: everyone needs to have their own email address to log in—two people sharing an email will not work.

To create your password:

• Click on the Log In icon on the top right corner of the home page
• Type in your email address, then click on Forgot password beside the LOG IN button
• You’ll be sent to a RESET PASSWORD page where you can enter your email address and the code you see there 
• Click Submit, then reset instructions for a new password will be emailed to you
• After you have reset the password, if you click on the “Remember Me” box when signing in, the computer will remember your password and signing in should be semi-automatic from then on. 

If you have any questions about how to log in to the website, please contact Patrick Scott.

Activities

Lunch After General Meeting:

Join us for lunch after the November meeting at The Mandarin.

Dine Out:

The November Dine-out was at the Mandarin Restaurant in Hyde Park.  A good time was had by all.

For more information, see the pictures, click here

Coffee Mornings
Men's Coffee:

2nd and 4th Monday of the month at 10:00 a.m. except 4th Monday in December.  Call Norman Eligh if you are planning to attend by Sunday evening prior to the coffee meet-up.

Women's Coffee:

2nd and 4th Monday of the month at 10:00 a.m., except 4th Monday in December.  See the photos from our October coffee, in the photo section at the end of the newsletter! Convenor: Shirley Harris.

Investment Club:

The Investment group typically meets for about 90 minutes once a month on the second Wednesday.  Discussions focus on 1) Canadian and international issues and events that are likely to impact our finances and investments; 2) the performance of and expected prospects for companies which the group "holds" in a virtual Portfolio or might wish to acquire; and 3) finance and investing questions and issues raised by group members.  Decisions taken at the most recent meeting included selling a portion of our "shares" in the stocks of Apple and of Nuvista energy, to capture profits and maintain an appropriate balance relative to other holdings. contact Don Jamieson, for more information./p>

Please Note: since our December lunch falls on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, the December Investment Club will meet on December 7th.

Euchre: 

4th Thursday of the month (except December) at 1 pm in a member’s home. 8 players maximum plus spares. Usually over in about 3 hours. There is one opening available as well as sub positions. Convenor: Gail Clarke.

Support:

If you know someone who is feeling under the weather or needs cheering up,  please contact Connie Mabb.

Book Club:                                                                                    

Book Club meets the 4th Tuesday of the month at 2:00 p.m. except December, July & August in a member’s home. Our book club membership is now at capacity. If interested in joining, please call Susan Wolnik or Liz Gordon, to be added to the waiting list. If the waiting list grows to 4-5 members, we will help prospective members form a second book club. 

Photo  Corner

A big welcome to our newest members! Julie Igras (top right), Terry Peters  (bottom left), Ralph Pincombe (bottom right).

               

Women's  Coffee: Click here to see more coffee photos.

Men's Coffee: Click here to see more coffee photos.

Our November outing was to the Jet Air Museum. 19 people attended, lunch followed at the Kantana Cafe where we had a great view of planes large and small taking off.  A fun time was had by all who attended.  Click here to see all 11 photos!

Membership:

As of November 22, 2022 we have 103 Members, which includes 21 New Members.

Probus News:

Repurposing Old Laptops:

The Phoenix Project is seeking older laptops that have become too slow and sluggish to be useful, so that they can be rejuvenated and placed with needy families and/or newcomers to Canada. I have now repurposed 20+ laptops and their new owners are very pleased with the results.

If you have an older laptop that you no longer use and you would like to securely dispose of it, please consider donating it. The hard drive will be securely erased to ensure NO data can ever be recovered—so you need have no concerns about compromising your personal information. Then a new lightweight operating system is added to make these old machines functional once again. And, importantly, this helps minimize the production of e-waste, as these old units are put into useful service rather than being thrown out!

Thanks for considering this request. You can contact me directly for more information or to arrange a donation pickup or drop-off.

Eric Wood
New Member – Probus Club of South London