For retirees looking for connection to the community, joining a Probus club might be the answer. By joining Probus, men and women who have retired from a profession or business meet once a month in the morning for fellowship and to hear guest speakers.
Although the club is an offshoot of Rotary, an organization that emphasizes service to the community, there is no such expectation with Probus.
“It’s basically for self-edification to continue learning,” says charter member Peter Kilby of the Salmon Arm Probus Club that he and Bob Priest started nine years go. “It’s a social club.”
One of the other benefits and one Muriel Dodge is very familiar with, is that it allows newcomers rapid entry into the community.Current director of Probus Canada’s Okanagan Region, Dodge came to the Shuswap area in 2003 from Williams Lake, where she’d been involved with economic development.
Soon after her arrival, she was introduced to Probus. “I stepped right in, it was like I’d known these people all my life,” she says with enthusiasm. “I arrived just after the club started and we still have 28 or 30 charter members.” Not only has the local club thrived, but has helped six others in the Southern Interior.
With Salmon Arm Club membership nearing maximum capacity, Probus is looking for the ideal location for a second club.
“We’re starting another one maybe in Sorrento, Blind Bay or Salmon Arm,” says Dodge. “We will put out feelers and see where most of the people show interest.”
As well as lively discussion and developing and maintaining friendships, mini clubs have been created to cater to the interests of smaller groups.
“If people have a particular area of interest, they can use Probus as the vehicle to create a group,” says Dodge. “One popular one is the Gastronomes, where a person uses their home to host potluck meals with a theme. They’ve had to cap it at 25 members.”
A discussion group called W@W (Wednesday at Wendy’s) is also popular.
Added to the smaller book and music appreciation clubs, the larger group gets together for special events – a beach barbecue in summer, car rally in the fall and a Christmas party in lieu of a December meeting.
Past field trips have included visits to area wineries, Three Valley Gap and the Revelstoke Dam.
With 86 members meeting in Salmon Arm, it is deemed time to split the club into another chapter. Some 300,000 people worldwide have found an avenue to remain active and socially connected – 86 of them in Salmon Arm.
“We do a lot of laughing, it’s amazing, it enriches my life,” says Dodge. “It provided a bridge with working, that was basically always with younger people and getting to know and enjoying things with people my age and older.”
Anyone who is interested in becoming a member of Probus is invited to call Peter Kilby at 250-832-6407, Muriel Dodge at 250-832-4144, or Bob Priest at 250-833-4246. Previous experience with Rotary is not necessary.
National Flag Day
Feb. 15 was declared National Flag of Canada Day in 1996. It marks the day in 1965 when the red and white maple leaf flag was first raised over Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and hundreds of communities across Canada.
Red and white were designated as Canada’s official colours in 1921 by His Majesty King George V.
The Canadian national flag, also known as the “maple leaf flag,” is flown on many buildings, including private homes on National Flag of Canada Day.
Some people wear pins in the form of the flag. Many schools often hold special lessons on the Canadian national flag and its history around this time of the year.
George F.G. Stanley designed the current flag, which is inspired by the Royal Military College of Canada’s flag. The multi-party parliamentary committee formed to select a new flag unanimously chose the design on Oct. 29, 1964.
The House of Commons passed the design on Dec. 15, 1964. Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed the new flag on Jan. 28, 1965, and it was inaugurated on Feb. 15 in the same year.
The national flag of Canada consists of two vertical red sections separated by a white section, with an image of a red maple leaf on the white section. The whole flag is twice as wide as it is high and each of the two red rectangles is twice as high as it is wide.
The white section in the middle is a perfect square. However, the size of the maple leaf is not officially specified. The Ministry of Canadian Heritage issues instructions on the type of red ink to be used for making flags or printing images of them.
Sponge Ball
Diehard tennis players have a smart strategy for surviving winter when outside courts are out of reach.
On Tuesday and Friday mornings at the Shuswap Lake Estates, there is a group who play a game called Sponge Ball.
After watching the play for a while, the closeness in skill requirements was clearly related to those in a game of tennis.
Organizer Jim Hall explained: “The ball (made of sponge) is about 1.5 times larger than a tennis ball, the court is smaller, and the net is about 1.5 feet higher than with tennis.”
Sponge Ball game rules are the same as tennis, played in a doubles format, rotation of players after each game.
This would be a great way to get some exercise indoors while honing up your game, having fun with good company in the process.
Write about it
Pick up your pens, or head to your computer and get writing.
The third annual Sorrento Wave Short Story Contest is underway with the $5 entry fees going to support the South Shuswap First Responders.
Read and follow the rules please.
Those who don’t will be disqualified.
All stories must begin with the line “In that surreal moment when the car skidded off the road, my father’s warning echoed in my ears.”
This can be a complete sentence, or you can add to it, but your story must start with the opening line provided.
Each entry must be accompanied by a $5 entry fee, with cheques payable to Sorrento Wave Publications.
You can enter as many times as you wish, but each entry must be accompanied by the entry fee.
• Entries must be original, unpublished works of fiction, in any genre, submitted on plain 8½ x 11 inch white paper, double-spaced and typed.
• Short stories should range from 500 words up to a maximum of 1500 words (approximately two to six typewritten pages).
• Each entry should include a cover page with the author’s name, address, phone number, and email address (if applicable), as well as the title of your story. Do not write your name, address, or phone number on any other pages of the manuscript.
• Mail entries to: Sorrento Wave Publications, PO Box 566, Sorrento, B.C., V0E 2W0
• Entries must be postmarked on or before March 2, 2012.
• This contest is open to all Canadian residents of any age.
• Please keep a copy of your manuscript as it will not be returned to you.