Newsletter No. 54 - July 2021

PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO COVID RESTRICTIONS, THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING WILL BE HELD BY ZOOM AT 10.30AM ON WEDNESDAY 28th JULY

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President's Report

President’s Report - July

Here we go again. Stuck in Lockdown. Who could have foreseen this situation going back eighteen months? There does not appear to be an end in sight, and that means we are almost prisoners in our own home for some time to come. This is a very difficult time.

I would like to appeal to all members to think about how they could cheer up a fellow member. If every one of us made at least three phone calls per week to other Club members, then at least that may go some way towards relieving the tedium for both the call-maker and the call-taker. Think about the Probus values of friendship, fellowship and fun. Make a couple of phone calls and speak to your friends. Don’t just assume that a certain person is OK. Ring them to find out. Three calls per week is not a difficult. In fact, why not make it six?

So it looks like we are back to Zoom meetings once again. Toni Smith has been busy on the telephone trying to arrange speakers who are prepared to join us in a Zoom meeting. Andrew Little is doing his usual fantastic job of producing the Newsletter. It looks like this will have to be our two major means of communication in coming months.

Bob Carritt President

Secretarial

Correspondence In

Certificate of Currency for Probus insurance from PSPL

Email from Abigail Walker, PSPL, re promotion of Probus Day through The Hills Shire Council.

Email with web links attached of virtual historical tours from Uli Holmes, Parramatta Tourism Office. I can forward these onto any interested members.

Correspondence Out

None

Bev Dona

Details of the Probus Member Benefit Scheme are at: www.probussouthpacific.org/pages/members_offers_member_benefits_scheme
(click on link)

Treasurer

TREASURER’S REPORT                                               For the Month of June 2021

GENERAL ACCOUNT
Opening cash balance      1st June 2021               $3750.31
Interest 0.04
Deposits 168.00   Membership fees
210.00   Joining fees
Expenses (100.00) Heart Research Foundation Carolyn Carroll
(25.00) Refund membership fees Carolyn Carroll
(124.00) Hall hire
Closing cash balance     30th June 2021 $3879.35

ACTIVITIES ACCOUNT
Opening cash balance      1st June 2021               $8904.41
Interest 0.33
Deposits 565.00   Kiama
(104.20) Come from Away
440.00   Dining Out – El Nido
777.00   Addams Family
413.00   Sirculo Restaurant
224.50   Museum
36418.00   Broken Hill
Payments (715.00) Come from Away
(1400.00) Il Nido restaurant
(4800.00) Broken Hill
Closing cash balance     30th June 2021 $38733.00

There are currently 7 activities open.
Activity                                              Balance
Bonville Golf 210.00
Kiama 3565.00
Dining Out – El Nido 80.00
Addams Family 925.00
Sirculo restaurant 2537.00
Museum 337.00
Broken Hill 32418.00
$40072.00
Add:
Interest received
Last year 21.01
This year to date 6.72
Activities surplus 620.31
Bank balance $40720.04

TERM DEPOSIT
Interest to date on the $5,000 Term Deposit with Bendigo Bank is estimated to be $50.65.

INTEREST
For this year, $6.90 has been received as interest – General Account $0.18, Activities Account $6.72.

ACTIVITY SURPLUS
The Activity Surplus currently stands at $620.31.

Ian Roberts
Treasurer             7th July 2021

Membership

Just a reminder of our Club policies for attendance at meetings and activities.

Members are expected to attend a minimum of 10 functions (meetings and/or activities) per Probus year (April to March).
Visitors may only attend a maximum of 3 functions (meetings and/or activities) per Probus year.

Our membership is currently full, at the agreed maximum of 110.

Jeff Swan – Membership Officer

Welfare

Welfare Report July

Hello Everyone!

Well it’s a bit of Déjà vu. Just as we were getting back into the swing of things and enjoying catching up with each other and all our activities, here we are again in lockdown.

I know lots of you are keeping in contact with each other and making sure we are all coping ok. If you know of anyone you are concerned about then let Terry Ridge or myself know so we can make contact.

In the meantime I thought I’d share some of the riveting activities I’ve been up to filling in time.
Painting, painting and more painting. I actually enjoy doing this! It’s so satisfying to see the end result. Car washing, oven cleaning, gardening, raking up the last of the fallen leaves, shopping, reading, crosswords, sudoku, catching up on Netflix, cleaning [the cleaner can’t come so…. Now I really appreciate what she does!], making phone calls, walking, practicing 500, some cooking [when I’m allowed in the kitchen!], oven cleaning and descaling the kitchen kettle. Now I look at this list I’m surprised how busy I am.

Hope you are all keeping occupied as well. Hopefully see you on zoom at the next general meeting.

Cathy

Cathy Turner & Terry Ridge – Welfare Officers

May Meeting Speaker - Anne McDonald

Anne McDonald Biography

Anne McDonald is the Principal of Anne McDonald & Associates Lawyers. She was admitted to practice law in New South Wales in December 1999 and has had over 12 years experience working for a law firm in the Sydney CBD before starting her own firm.
Anne has had a wide range of experience working with banks, businesses, companies and private individuals including in the following areas of law:

Property sales and acquisitions
Business and company sales and acquisitions
Retail, commercial and private banking
Retail and commercial leasing both landlord and tenant
Wills, Estates, Powers of Attorney, Enduring Guardianship and Living Wills
Commercial Agreements
Partnerships and Joint Ventures
Family Law Financial Agreements
Trademarks
Liquor Licensing

Anne understands what a client needs from their solicitor and the importance of providing legal services which provide value for money and quality advice.

No Photos From June Meeting (not held)

Birthday Celebrations

Happy Birthday
To all our members
Celebrating a birthday in June & July

June Birthdays
Graeme Hendry
John Savic
Julie Stinson

July Birthdays
John Cauchi
Wendy Crispe
Chris Ellis
Hilary Graham
Max Henderson
Karen Matthews
Ian Palmer
Carmen Sanders
Edie Swan

Environmental Change Is Required For Disposable Coffee Cups

Our current disposable coffee/tea cups cost around 20 to 25 cents each.

They are NOT recyclable due to the plastic membrane that lines them and can take up to 30 years to degrade.
Our landfills are choking with the daily arrival of 2 million “disposable” cups per day.

France banned single use disposable in 2020, other countries are following this trend. Coles & Woolworths both announced that they will stop selling single use plastic tableware, including cups by 1 July this year.

SOLUTION?
Buy yourselves a reusable coffee cup that shows that you’re “environmentally responsible” and form a habit of using them daily (keep in your bag or car), similar to the use of plastic reusable supermarket bags now.

Look in Target, Kmart or other similar stores and you will see there are a large range of reusable cups, especially the light insulated type that will keep your drink hot, or wine cold (use for white wine at wine & cheese nights). They all have protective “no spill” lids.

BRING YOUR REUSABLE CUP TO OUR MONTHLY MEETINGS & RINSE IN THE SINK AFTER USE!
Desley

2021 Trivia Night Is On Again!

The West Pennant Hills & Cherrybrook Rotary Club Trivia Night is on again on

Saturday 18th September at the Cherrybrook Community Centre.

Save the date!!!

As with all our previous Trivia Nights, it will be an enjoyable and affordable night at only $20.00 per person (no extra costs re the trivia rounds) with the only optional extras being a raffle drawn at the end of the last round.

Working on tables of 8 (we can assist/coordinate/put teams together). Ample parking will be available.

Funds raised from this year's Trivia Night will donated to the charity “Graces Place”.

The primary purpose of Grace’s Place is to provide a unique place of healing and restoration for children traumatised by homicide. The facility is being built at Doonside on land made available by Blacktown City Council and Western Sydney Parklands Trust.

Their web site is https://gracesplace.org.au

Please contact Max or Andrew to make bookings, or using contact details below in the flyer.

To download the flyer, click HERE

Activities & Leaders

As a result of the sign-up sheets at the Foundation Meeting and expressions of interest on application forms we have set up numerous activities and interest groups.

Newsletter Copy Deadline

Please provide your contributions for the August Newsletter by Friday 13th August.

Please email to Enio Dona or Bev Davison for activities or direct to Andrew Little for other articles.

Alternatively place directly into Dropbox under WPHD Probus Activities / Activity Newsletter Contributions / Contributions – 2021 08

Activities List

To go to the Activities Calendar - click HERE!

Click on activity to go straight there!

Book Challenge

SIT – READ – CHILL!

Another 7 books read this month - SRC Challenge has reached 40!
The ‘SIT – READ – CHILL’ Challenge will run from March to the end of August, and you can join at any time. You set your challenge and then aim to reach it.
To be part of this challenge, just search Facebook for WPH&D Book Challenge and join us.
A few ‘I really can’t waste my life finishing this book’ moments this month: James Patterson’s The Cross, and Three Women Disappear, How to Paint a Dead Man, Sarah Hall. Life’s too short! James Patterson needs to keep collaborating with others. His solo stuff is hard to get into. But the real problem (The Cross) was the most appalling reader – with sound effect for total melodramatic cheap chic.

This Month:
Nothing Ventured by Jeffrey Archer: Another excellent story and a great reader. First in the series about William Warwick and his journey to becoming a detective. His father expected him to study law and join his firm as a barrister. Not for William. He graduates from Uni, and despite being eligible to fast tracking through the ranks, starts at the bottom out on the beat, rising to join Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiques Fraud squad, beginning with a search for a stolen Rembrandt and some other frauds. Many twists but very enjoyable.

Widows’ Revenge by Lynda La Plante: The follow on to “Widows”. Continues the story of crime-land wives. Against all odds, the widows manage to pull of a heist that their husbands had failed to do at the cost of their lives. Then one widow discovers her husband’s betrayal, and that he isn’t dead. He’s now going to make them pay.

Sisters by Choice by Susan Mallery: Three cousins on Blackberry Island, each with pear-shaped problems involving how they move into the future. All about love, family and the friendships that see you through whatever life throws at you. Told with humour and charm.

The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves: This is from the crop of books about Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope – also a TV series. On a late snowy night, driving down an unfamiliar road, Vera becomes lost and disorientated. She finds a car that has skidded off the road and stops to help. Thinking the absent driver has gone to find help, she turns. Then she hears the cry of a young child – strapped in the back of the car. The resulting investigation has Vera uncovering her family’s complicated past. Many twists and turns and a good read.

Becoming by Michelle Obama: The story of the Obama’s journey the White House. If follows her life from a humble beginning in Chicago, through her realisation of the importance of education, her own law career, and how she played her role as First Lady. A good insight into American politics without it being too heavy.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley: On an island off the windswept Irish coast, guests father for the wedding of the year – the marriage of Jules Keegan and Will Slater. Old friends – past grudges – happy families – hidden jealousies – thirteen guests – one body. All are trapped when a storm unleashes its fury on the island. All have a secret. All have a motive. Keeps you guessing right to the end.

Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson: This read was just a break from all the heavier stuff. Amusing but not necessarily enthralling. 20 years earlier, Bryson had seen Europe as a backpacker. Now he decides to make a sentimental return. Interesting observations of how time has changed things as well as memories.

Sue Calabrese

Activity Group	Leaders
Book Challenge	Sue Calabrese
Book Club	Bev Davison
Bridge	Looking For Leader
Cards	David Turner
Cycling	Bruce Bartle
Day Trips (Bus/Train/Ferry)	Helen Games
Dining Out	Wendy Carritt
Domestic Travel	Max Henderson
Gardening	Sue Small, Lorenza Powyer
Golf	Terry Ridge
Investment Group	David Antonjuk
Mens Club	Rene Beutler
Mixed Social Group	Kim Nicholls
Movies	Sue Small and Lorenza Powyer
Overseas Travel	Looking For Leader
Photography	Rob Clarke
Ten Pin Bowling	Douglas Matthews
Tennis	Bob Davison
Theatre and Musicals	Bruce Bartle
Walking Group	Enio Dona
Wine & Cheese	Julie Shenstone, Susan Antonjuk

For an activity group to start, a member needs to step forward to lead the group

Newsletter

Newsletter No. 54 - July 2021PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO COVID RESTRICTIONS, THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING WILL BE HELD BY ZOOM AT 10.30AM ON WEDNESDAY 28th JULY