Wangaratta West Combined Probus

President Lendsay Maiden opened the May meeting welcoming members and two guests.

Condolences have been relayed to founder member Beryl Klemm on the passing of her husband Kieran.

We have many successful activities to report.

Participants on the recent trip to Flinders Ranges had a wonderful time.

The trip included a visit to Port Augusta’s Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden and a hair-raising 4WD ridgetop tour at Arkaroola.

Everyone came home with stories to tell.

Members are already booking for a four-day, three-night trip to Melbourne in October.

Garden Group enjoyed an outing to Bailey’s Winery on Saturday, 30 May.

Walking Group continues to meet at Apex Park at 10am on Wednesdays.

Our annual casserole luncheon will be held 11 June at The Terrace Hall.

As always, the movie goers are on the look-out for interesting movies to attend – coffee afterwards.

Sunday lunches are still proving very popular.

Kudos go to Anne Diffey and Shirley Sullivan and their committee for organising such a lovely Probus 50th Anniversary Day on 6 May, with guest speakers Michael Ransom, chair of Probus South Pacific and Heather Ewart, journalist and former presenter of ABC's ‘Back Roads’.

Members who attended from many clubs throughout the North East Victoria and across the Murray, thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Our club’s guest speaker, introduced by her long-time friend Dan O’Flaherty, was Leonie Bourke from S&B Quilters with a delightful selection of quilts and wall-hangings she has crafted over the years.

Such imagination, patience and accuracy displayed in each article.

Leonie’s creations had both our women and men spellbound as each one was unfolded.

Leonie and her friend Wendy, stayed and joined us for lunch after the meeting.

Next meeting is at Wangaratta Club is on Monday, 8 June at 11am.

Wangaratta Ladies Probus Club

What a busy month we have had.

Not just our club activities, but also the 50th anniversary of Probus in Australia luncheon on 6 May.

It was wonderful to see so many clubs participate.

A big thank you must go out to the organising committee, especially Anne Diffey and Shirley Sullivan, who got the ball rolling and ran with it.

From arranging our guest speaker Heather Ewart, the Probus Ambassador for Australia, to having Michael Ransom, chair of Probus South Pacific present as well.

All our club activities are travelling well with many participants attending ten pin bowling, fun and fitness, garden group and Mahjong.

We have had a number of ladies not well this last month and we hope they will all pick up and return to Probus soon.

Our guest speaker this month was Peter Rourke from Project 365 and he gave us a very informative talk on how it came about and where it is now.

It has certainly grown from being an idea into a foundation.

A great advocate for mental health awareness which has touched so many of us.

Wangaratta Appin Park Probus

President Amelia Edwards called the 12 May meeting to order, welcoming members present and one visitor.

After accepting apologies and giving birthday greetings to Jill, Susan, Angelina and Hugh, further business was attended to before Amelia inducted new member Mary Nash into our club.

Mary gave a brief history of herself, her working life and why she came to Wangaratta.

We hope she enjoys lots of friendship, fellowship and fun with our Probus club.

Our special interest groups filled us in on all their activities for the next month.

We certainly have a wide variety of things to be involved in.

King River Café is always a popular place to eat, as both combined breakfast group and Friday lunch group have been their recently.

The recent trip to Melbourne was a great success.

Although there was a lot of walking involved, members later in the day recovered with ‘refreshments’ and dinner at Mail Exchange Hotel one night and at Young and Jackson’s the next night.

There were museum viewings and a trip and lunch on the tram boat.

Thank you Amelia for your organisation of such a wonderful trip.

Sue Abotomey has planned a trip to Sydney 19-23 October, travelling on XPT, staying at Darling Harbour and doing a number of things including an evening cruise, a Sydney Rocks walking tour, a visit to Opera House and the Botanic Gardens.

Amelia read a poem and spoke about the early days of our Probus Club prior to a special 20th birthday celebration luncheon to be held following the next meeting on 9 June.

A lovely day was also had by 32 members at the Probus 50th Anniversary Celebration recently.

Wangaratta Central Combined Probus Club

Friday 15 May meeting was opened at 10am by vice president Ian Wiedeman.

He then introduced incoming president Colin Thomson.

Lee Wings was inducted as a new member.

Current membership is now 77.

Guest speaker this meeting was Leah Walker from Gateway Health who spoke on ‘Empowered Wellness & Emotion’.

Upcoming events:

Friday, 19 June: 25th celebratory in-house lunch. Cost is $25pp - includes birthday cake.

Saturday 4 July 2026: Seniors race day at Wangaratta Racecourse. Cost is $55pp and includes racecourse entry, two course lunch and one drink courtesy of the Wangaratta Turf Club.

Wednesday 15 July: ’21 Hearts’ at Albury Entertainment Centre. Cost is $65pp. This play tells the story of the nurses who fled the Japanese invasion of Singapore. Contact Eileen Dining for more details.

15-18 November: The Caravan Club are travelling to Warragul, staying at Warragul Gardens Caravan Park.

Wednesday 2 December: Martin’s Bus tour to Melbourne to see 'My Fair Lady' the musical.

The next general meeting will be held at the Wangaratta Bowls and Sports Club at Park Lane, at 10am on Friday, 19 June.