CURRENTS is the official newsletter of the Credit River PROBUS Club. It is published monthly and emailed to members to keep them abreast of club activities and to promote the club’s central objectives. Submissions are welcome as are new ideas and should be emailed to Lydia Koop, lydia04@rogers.com.
President’s Message
In a past newsletter, I suggested the advantages of sharing ideas between clubs.
Coincidentally, I have recently been made aware of just how broadly international Probus clubs have become. Allan Evans, who is our regional representative to Probus Canada, sent me an issue of a Probus Global newsletter which included statistics on Probus Clubs around the world. Some of the data seem a little confused and inconsistent, and while it is unclear how current the information is, there are nevertheless some very interesting numbers.
The country with the most Probus clubs and the most Probus members is, by a wide margin, Australia. (114,000 members distributed between 1578 clubs). By contrast, Canada with approximately the same population, has only 35,000 members distributed between 250 clubs. However, we should not feel too bad, since that large nation to the south of us with 10 times our population, has only five clubs, with a total of 300 members! The numbers for the United Kingdom are interesting, given that’s where the Probus organization was born back in 1965. The UK, with approximately twice Canada’s population, has 51,326 members distributed between 1264 clubs. However, this number may be somewhat misleading as virtually all UK clubs are men only, thus restricting their membership to a little less than 50% of their total population! Australia is like Canada, in having mixed clubs, as well as clubs for men and women only. Travelling to South America? You can find one club in each of Argentina, Chile and Brazil. How about small tropical islands? Norfolk Island, in the South Pacific may have only 2188 people according to Wikipedia – but you can join its one Probus club.
My Rotarian husband is encouraged to visit local Rotary clubs wherever we travel, resulting in interesting and informative meetings in Hawaii and New Zealand, among other places. It is perhaps a pity that Probus does not have quite the same culture, although we have joined friends in the UK with their Probus club on a five-day bus trip to Devon, where we were warmly welcomed.
The bottom line? Enjoy being part of a world-wide organization and enjoy the benefits it offers – and just a quick reminder that dues are payable before the end of September.
Ada Dixon
You can find this month’s complete issue and past editions of CURRENTS here.
Read your copy of CURRENTS or see the web to find out more about Activities, Events, and Travel in our club.
Direct comments about CURRENTS to Lydia Koop, lydia04@rogers.com. If you need to be sent another copy of CURRENTS please email crprobus@gmail.com.