Beaver Valley Probus Club

President's Message
Caroline Bacher

Welcome to March and the hopes of an early Spring! Apparently, Wiarton Willie predicted an early Spring. We shall see!

March and April are National Probus Months. What better way to celebrate than to welcome our new members. They will be wearing a name badge with a pink smiley face sticker, so please say “hello” when you see them at our meetings and make them feel welcome. I thank Vicki and Terry Kellar along with Pam Weaver for their hard work in registering our new members and for organizing our new directory for this year. We wish Jim Scott, Past Treasurer, a happy and relaxing “retirement” from our Management Committee. He has deserved his Life Membership, presented to him at our February AGM, for his many years of dedicated service to our club.

There are a few Business items that I want to bring to your attention.

Your Management Committee is working hard behind the scenes to keep the club running smoothly. We are in search of an Assistant Treasurer so if you are so inclined please contact the Treasurer, Kathy Eagleson. An accounting background is an asset. You will find the names and contact information of all members of the Management Committee at the front of the new directory.

If you have a Community Announcement to make, please e-mail it to Martin Buscher a few days before our General Meeting so that he can familiarize himself with the content. I encourage you to take a look at our Operating Policies document found on our website under Club Rules. These explain how our club operates within the Constitution guidelines, specifically item #4.

We are trying to reduce garbage at our general meetings and in so doing will dispense with using creamers and sugars provided with our coffee. We will provide milk, cream and sugar in containers for your use at future meetings. Thank you for bringing a small reusable mug for your coffee, tea or water.

I look forward to a busy and exciting year as your President. There are many excursions and events for you to enjoy in our club. Our social convenor, Stella Zahradnik, is busy organizing these and is always happy to receive new ideas. I hope that you will come to the Activity Fair in April to sign up for some of the great activities that are offered by our many coordinators. Let’s take this opportunity to meet new people and enjoy fellowship!

Please note that the revised date for the next General Meeting is Tuesday, March 31st. This meeting has now been canceled out of concerns regarding the COVID-19 virus.

Calendar

31 March 2020	Monthly Probus Meeting - cancelled
28 April 2020	Activities Fair
27 August 2020	King's Wharf Theatre Outing: Rock of Ages
21 October 2020	Stratford Trip: Spamalot

Activity Group Updates

Georgian Probus Travel Group
Gloria Thompson

• Highland and Islands of Scotland: May 9-24, 2020. This trip may be postponed until approximately October 3, 2020. Some space has opened up for new bookings, please call Gloria at 705-429-9455. 
• Portugal and Madeira: May 2021. This trip will be a 2 week program. For information or to register please call Gloria at 705-429-9455. 
• Croatia: Sept 12-26, 2021. The first week, Sept 12-19 will be a tour to explore the interior. The second week, Sept 19- 26 is a bike and boat trip along the coast. Regular or e-bikes will be available to rent. For questions or registration, please call Jacqui at 647-404-9380. 

Dining Around Town - upcoming dinners
Hank Bouwman

• Thursday, March 12 - The Mill Café in Thornbury
• Wednesday April 15 – Nathaniel’s in Owen Sound (limited to 30 diners) 
• Wednesday May 13 – Justin’s Oven in Kimberley (limited to 24 diners). May 20 is also available if we have 40 people booked. 
• Thursday June 18 – Barcelos in Wasaga Beach 
• Thursday September 10 – The Falls Inn in Walter’s Falls

Life Membership for Jim Scott

Jim Scott has retired from being our treasurer, after more years than he would care to admit! During his tenure Jim was dedicated, hard working, sincere, and honest. He performed what had to be done, quickly. He always made himself available to answer any queries that needed to be resolved. In recognition of his great contribution, he was presented with a Life Membership at our February 25th AGM.

Our speaker on March 31
Tom Bell - Cyclist

Tom Bell, Cyclist, age 66 from Collingwood, is our speaker for March, who cycled across Africa to support Hospice Georgian Triangle.  Tom Bell undertook the tremendous 13,500 km bicycle ride last year, the length of South America from Cartagena, to Ushuala, Argentina, to raise awareness and encourage donations to Hospice Georgian Triangle.  His efforts were hugely successful, and raised $21,300.00 for the Hospice. 

And if this story wasn't amazing enough, Tom did another bicycle ride in January 2019, this time through Africa.  For his second cross continental cycling journey, on his own two wheels he traversed another 11,220 km from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa in support of Hospice Georgian Triangle. 

See full bio at https://www.hospicegeorgiantriangle.com/tom-bell-tour-dafrique

BVPC 2020 Activities Fair
Rick Leclair

The 2020 Beaver Valley Probus Club Activities Fair takes place on Tuesday April 28th at the Beaver Valley Community Centre from 1:30pm to 3:00 pm. This is a great opportunity to sign up to participate in one or many of the activities available to club members, as well as share any interest you may have in possible new activities. Activity Coordinators for each of the groups will be on site and available to answer any questions you may have about each activity. A listing of the current activities available can be found in your copy of the 2020 Membership Directory or on our web site: www.beavervalleyprobus.com. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Activities Fair!

Annual Bocce Tourney in Jeopardy

After 10 years doing an amazing job organizing the Bocce Tourney event at our annual summer picnic in July, Ken Kelley has decided to take a well-deserved break. This activity sees over 64 club members annually participate in this fun event. A picnic without bocce just wouldn’t be the same. To keep this event going, we need a person or group to take the reins and plan this year’s tourney. Ken has graciously offered to assist if help is needed. Please contact Stella Zahradnik, if you are interested in keeping the bocce tourney alive in 2020.

Save the Planet!

Remember to bring your own mug for coffee/tea break! Let’s reduce the number of unrecyclable paper cups used at the meetings. 

Rock of Ages: A Totally Rad ‘80s Musical

Once again our Club has arranged tickets for a Drayton Festival Theatre Event at King’s Wharf Theatre in Penetanguishene. Fans of '80s arena hard rock music will dig this awesomely hilarious musical comedy that wails with big chords, big hair ... and an even bigger heart.

It's 1987, and aspiring rocker Drew meets and falls madly in love with Sherrie, a fresh-faced Midwesterner who has recently moved to Los Angeles to chase her movie star dreams. Will their stars rise? Will their love last? Find out in the worldwide phenomenon featuring 28 classic rock tunes like "We Built This City," "The Final Countdown," "Wanted Dead or Alive," "Here I Go Again," "Harden My Heart," "Can't Fight this Feeling," and "I Want To Know What Love Is."

• Date: Thurs. Aug. 27, 2PM show 
• Group Rate: $44.32/ticket  (payment instructions to follow closer to date)
• Location: King’s Wharf Theatre, 97 Jury Dr, Penetanguishene
• Driving arrangements: should be made individually. A group dinner will be arranged closer to the date.

Please register online below or contact Vicki Kellar.  This event is expected to sell-out, so please register as soon as possible. First-come, first-served.

Event Registration

A new website is coming soon!
Martin Buscher

Our Management Committee has agreed to invest in a new website that should help our volunteers reduce the amount of time they have been spending on clerical work. There is not much fun in tens of hours of printing and mailing membership notifications or doing similar jobs. Instead, we shall move such tasks to an automated system: for instance, we will pay our membership fees online with a credit card. The new website will look a little different, but you should quickly find how similar it actually is to what we currently have. We will get a new members-only section where we will be able to make restricted information available, such as a lookup of our membership directory.

Help Wanted

The Management Committee is searching for an Assistant Treasurer. If you have an accounting background and are looking for a volunteer opportunity we would like to hear from you! Please contact the Treasurer, Kathy Eagleson. Thank you! 

Book Exchange

Bring a Book Take a Book: Books should be in good condition, a book you have enjoyed reading, and the copyright date should not be before 2000.

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 call 519-599-5846.

March 2020:

• Start tuberous begonias and caladiums and bring them back to life in pots using damp peat moss. 
• Start brassicas (cabbage family) and hardy annual seeds for April-May planting in your garden. 
• Start tomatoes, lettuce and other fast-growing seeds late March, or early April this year. 
• Order summer flowering bulbs. Try www.botanus.com for interesting high-quality bulbs. 
• Get your “To-Do” list for this spring and summer into your computer so you can’t say you lost it. 
• Spread triple 19 fertilizer on the snow on your flower beds and shrub borders before it goes. It’s available at the Markdale Co-Op on Hwy 10 south of Markdale. Ask for our 599 10% discount from the regular price. Call 1-519-986-2031. 
• Check and repair gardening tools. Find them first. Sharpen spades, shovels, etc. Wipe down wooden handles with boiled linseed oil. Paint the handles of small hand tools like trowels with red or yellow fluorescent enamel, so you won’t lose them so often. 
• Apply combination dormant spray to fruit trees and pest-prone shrubs when non-freezing weather permits. Especially good against scale. 
• Start forcing branches of spring-flowering shrubs like Forsythia, and lily-of-the-valley root pips after buds start to swell, later in the month. 
• Prune summer-flowering shrubs and vines when the snow has disappeared. 
• When the snow has gone, and the frost disappears, loosen up packed winter mulch and push perennials back into the soil that have been heaved out of place by the frost. 
• Plan to add a few native berry plants and shrubs that will attract the birds this summer. 
• Visit local nursery greenhouses to smell the coming spring. 
• Check dates for annual garden shows like Canada Blooms, Mar 13 - 22 2020, co-locating with the National Home Show at the Enercare Centre in the CNE grounds. Tickets Reg. $20, Seniors $17, Early Bird on-line to Mar 7, Regular $17, Sr only $14 www.candablooms.com. 
• REMEMBER 
• • Paul Zammit is coming back to the Community Centre in Thornbury for our April Meeting, Thursday April 9 @ 7 pm to talk about perennials. It’s a joint 599 Garden Club /Probus Club presentation. Guests welcome for $10. Get tickets at the March Meeting. 

Stratford Trip 2020
Stella Zahradnik

Come and enjoy Monty Python’s Spamalot at the Avon Theatre on Wednesday October 21, 2:00pm matinee. The cost is $121 which includes theatre, bus and lunch at Anna Mae’s in Millbank. This trip is fully subscribed, but a waitlist has been started. 

Support Group
Lynn Corrigan

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:

• March: Lynn Corrigan 
• April: Sandy Macaulay 
• May: Joan Uglow 

The Last Word
Submitted by Past President Marion Stewart

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
Audrey Hepburn

Grapevine Team

Editor	Chris Rickard
Reporters	Opportunities for you!
Distribution	Nancy Dixon
Website	Nancy Dixon  Heather Buscher