Beaver Valley Probus Club

President's Message, by Mario Stewart

This is the month of November – a number of you travel to warmer climes and continue all those lovely summer activities all year long. Others say that they are going to “The Blue Mountains” to enjoy every minute of what our area has to offer. November is a time to reflect, and what better way than to think about all the friends that we have made just within our Probus Group activities.

Our inaugural Fallicious Lunch created one of those moments Calendar of Events 26 November, 2019 Monthly Probus Meeting 10 December, 2019 Christmas Lunch at Lora Bay – a chance to meet new people and discover something we have in common. It is such fun to sit at a table with a stranger, and come away with a new friend. We would like to make this an annual event.

We continue with the Royal Winter Fair excursion and then, of course, our annual Christmas Party. All these events give us an opportunity to create new memories and friends.

It is an honour to sit as your Club President – each one of us brings something a little different to the Management Team. There is a lot of talent within our membership and having fun seems to bring out the best in everyone.

I will be in Paris for the next few weeks, hopefully to be up close and personal with Da Vinci, Napoleon and other great people, if only to see them in palaces, monuments & galleries. I will miss the Christmas lunch and would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year.

Calendar of Events

28 November, 2019	Monthly Probus Meeting
10 December, 2019	Christmas Lunch at Lora Bay

50/50 Draw

Congratulations to Joan Uglow and Wendy Harris, the winners at the October 22nd meeting! 

Annual Christmas Lunch

Tuesday Dec 10 2019 at Lora Bay.  Social 11:30, lunch at 12:30. Tickets at $32.00 each (guest $42.00) will be available at our November Probus meeting. They can be purchased ahead of time by contacting Stella Zahradnik by email. CHEQUES ONLY PLEASE. Menu is a traditional turkey dinner, with stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, seasonal vegetables, roast potatoes, spinach salad with cranberry and goat cheese, layered trifle and gluten free raspberry sorbet, coffee and tea. Cut off date is Dec 2. Stella Zahradnik

Activity Group Updates

Georgian Probus Travel Group: The May 2020 Scotland trip to the Islands and Highlands is nearly full. There are spaces for a few more people. The trip has been brought forward by one day, due to airline schedule changes. The new departure date is 09 May returning 24 May. Please contact Gloria at 705 429 9455.

We are planning trips to Portugal and Madeira, Croatia and a Russian river cruise for the future. Keep tuned…………. Gloria Thompson

Dining Around Town:

Upcoming dinners:

• Wednesday, November 20 - Crow. Bar & Variety in Collingwood 
• Friday, January 4 - Cured Restaurant in Thornbury (limited seating) 
• Wednesday, February 12 - The Grey Restaurant in Thornbury 
• Thursday, March 12 - The Mill Café in Thornbury 
• Wednesday April 15 – Nathaniel’s in Owen Sound 

Hank Bouwman

Ski Legends: PROBUS Ski Legends is a club with members from all area PROBUS clubs who enjoy skiing, socializing and travelling. Our social events and ski days at the private clubs are planned for the 2019-2020 season and are summarized below.

The website, www.probusskilegends.ca, has the most up-to-date information on events and ski trips, as well as the application form to join Ski Legends. Basic membership is $30.

This year’s social events:

• December 2 - Skiis & Biikes Wine and Cheese. There is a discount, for that night only, on purchases of soft goods. 
• January 6, 2020 - Free Welcome Back Breakfast for Legends Members only, at Blue Mountain Grand Central Lodge. 
• January 22, 2020 - Dinner Show and Party at Blue Mountain Golf Club. 

Ski Days at the private clubs have been confirmed: 

• Craigleith – Wednesday, January 8 
• Devil’s Glen – Thursday, January 16 
• Osler Bluff – Thursday, January 30 & February 20 
• Alpine – Thursday, February 13 
• Georgian Peaks – Wednesday, March 18 

Ski Trips: 

• Sun Peaks, February 29 – March 4, is SOLD OUT. To have your name placed on the wait list, go to the Ski Legends website/ Ski Trips to find the trip leader contact. 
• Steamboat, Colorado – February 2 to 9. Spaces still available. Please go to the Ski Legends website/ Ski Trips to see further information about the trip and trip leader contact. 
• For 2021- Group ski travel has changed significantly in the last few years, and it has become necessary to plan more than a year ahead to secure space. Plans are being made for the ever-popular Sun Peaks, as well as a European trip, likely the Dolomites in Italy, with sales likely this coming winter or spring. As a Ski Legends member, you will receive information about the 2021 trips by email, as soon as it is available. 

More information will be available through the season via emails to members, from your Probus representative and from the website, www.probusskilegends.ca.

Louise Armstrong

NEW CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS

PROBUS CANADA updated its Constitution and Bylaws last year and in order to comply with them, our Management Committee has reviewed and updated the Constitution and Bylaws for Beaver Valley Probus. The new Constitution and Bylaws are posted on our website, and the Management Team will bring the proposed documents to the Annual General Meeting in February, 2020 for the members’ approval. PLEASE REVIEW THE PROPOSED DOCUMENTS. The quick link to the site is: http://beavervalleyprobus.com/club-rules.cfm

Nancy Dixon

Membership Renewal Reminder

By now, in your very own snail mail box, you will have received a vibrant pink Membership renewal form. Hopefully you have already sent it back or dropped off the completed form and cheque at the October meeting. If not, please dig through your pile of correspondence and mail it to the address shown, or bring it to the November meeting. Please note that renewals are due by December 1 and we do want you to renew! If, however, you are unable to return it, please advise the Membership Directors ASAP. Please remember to sign the Waiver portion & include the cheque. Thanks & see you at the Club.

Membership Directors Vicki & Terry Kellar

HELP WANTED

We need you! There are openings on our Management Team! If you are interested in finding out more about these positions, please contact Pat Wright or Caroline Bacher.

Our Speaker on November 26: Diana Bishop

Diana Bishop spent twenty years as a TV News Correspondent for CBC, CTV, Global Television, and NBC News telling stories of some of the biggest newsmakers of the day. Since 2002, she has been running a unique personal branding business called The Success Story Program™ where she helps create success stories for everyone from executives and entrepreneurs to politicians and ballet dancers.

The Success Story Program™ has taken Diana across Canada, to the U.S and Europe, where she has spoken to dozens of business groups, while also being profiled as a one of Canada’s Top Business Women, and National Woman of Distinction, as well as, being featured regularly in the media, such as, in the Report on Business in the Globe and Mail.

Now after all the years of telling other people’s stories Diana has written her own story, a deeply personal memoir called Living Up To a Legend, My Adventures With Billy Bishop’s Ghost, which explores the profound impact that her famous grandfather, World War One Flying Ace, Billy Bishop has had on her life. 

In Memoriam

Vanda Kilpen, a Probus member since 2005, passed away on Tuesday, November 5th .

Metal Storage Cabinet Wanted

The BVPC Management Board is searching for a ‘gently used’ metal storage cabinet, to store a variety of Probus Club materials and supplies on site at the Beaver Valley Community Centre. A cabinet measuring 36” wide x 18”-20” deep x 66”-72” high with 4 shelves and lockable double doors would be ideal. If you happen to have a unit you wish to part with, or have any leads as to where we could source one, please contact Rick Leclair, Activities Convenor, Beaver Valley Probus Club. Contact info can be found in the membership directory.

Groan Time

A woman in labor suddenly shouted, “Shouldn’t! Wouldn’t! Couldn’t! Didn’t! Can’t!”
“Don’t worry,” said the doc. “Those are just contractions."

Hear about the new restaurant called Karma? There’s no menu: you get what you deserve.

Why can’t you explain puns to kleptomaniacs? They always take things literally.

I lost my job at the bank on my very first day. A woman asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over.

Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn’t much, but the reception was excellent.

Environmental Plea

Remember to bring your own mug for coffee/tea break! Let’s reduce the amount of garbage produced at the meetings.

The Master Gardener’s Corner

Things to do in your garden each month taken from the Ontario Master Gardener Calendar by John Hethrington, Past President, Master Gardeners of Ontario. For more information, or your copy of the 11” x 17” calendar of the full year’s tips for a $1 contribution to Master Gardeners, call 519-599-5846.

November 2019:

• Take advantage of any warm spell for a little last minute deep watering. 
• Buy discounted bulbs on sale and get them in the ground. Your extra efforts will be rewarded in the spring. 
• Remove plants from your pots and other containers and empty the soil. Dump plants and soil into your compost pile; clean them thoroughly and store them. 
• There is an annual argument as to whether you should cut back your perennials, grasses etc., in the fall, or leave them long for “winter interest”. Up here, most perennials are covered by 2 feet of snow, so you can’t see them anyway. Since Spring Clean-Up can be daunting and there can be wet weather, a late spring and/or instant summer, this year I am opting for a BIG FALL CLEAN-UP to get a jump on spring 2020. 
• Dig up and bring in dahlia tubers, tuberous begonias and gladiolus corms when the leaves turn yellow. Remove the soil and wash the tubers. Remove little cormlets from glad corms for more plants next year. Cure the tubers and corms for 2-3 weeks in warm dry place. Place in trays and cover with dry compost, peat moss, sand or perlite. Store at about 5 C in a cold-cellar, or slightly heated garage. 
• Try potting up some spring bulbs like amaryllis and paperwhite narcissus and force them into bloom for Christmas and/or for late winter indoor colour. Different bulbs will require various lengths of cold to flower, so read the product packaging carefully. Store the bulbs in an area where they will not freeze (about 5°C). A fridge or cold cellar will work well for this. 
• Complete winterization procedures for plants, containers, hoses and all other garden equipment. 
• Protect young trees from rodents by using wire collars or plastic protectors. 
• Hill up your hybrid Tea and Floribunda roses with 10 inches of compost covering the stems, or use a metal or plastic “Rose Collar” and fill it with compost before the ground freezes. 
• Create one or more Winter/Christmas urns using a variety of evergreen branches. Find branches with berries and add colour with red dogwood and dried hydrangea blossoms. 
• Check mulch levels in gardens. Pull mulch back 2”-3” from around shrub and tree trunks to discourage rodents. Add more compost or leaves if you have them. 
• Order seed catalogues for next spring. 
• Buy your Triple 19 fertilizer from the Co-Op for March application on the snow, so you will have some when the time comes to apply it, as their summer supplies may have not arrived in March.

Support Group

Do you know of a member who needs encouragement to get through a difficult period? Please do not hesitate to call on the following, or any of the management team:

• November: Mary Dillon 
• December: Doreen Bowins 
• January: Eileen Scott 

Lynn Corrigan

The Last Word

Submitted by Past President Pat Wright

Nothing is impossible. The word itself says “I’m possible”
Audrey Hepburn