Probus Experiencing
Phenomenal Growth
Dorothy - 19/2/99

What is Probus?
"I'm not free on Monday morning. It's Probus!" If that's a puzzling statement to you it's time you caught up with what Probus is, because Probus clubs are growing at a phenomenal rate worldwide and in Australia and New Zealand alone the membership is over 130,000 and growing fast.

The name Probus is a combination of PRO for professional, and BUS for business, and many of the members are former professional or business people who are 'active retirees'. I hadn't seen that word 'retirees' until I was shown a Probus brochure. In the Probus context it includes retired or semi-retired people.

Why was it started?
It began first in the U.K. in 1965 with a group of people who saw that the drawbacks of retirement could be that they would be 'out of the swim', lose contact with a varied group of people and feel the need of some extra mental stimulation.

So that's what Probus provides - a club for people seeking to have more social contacts and also to keep their minds active.

How does it operate?
If you belong to the dwindling minority who studied Latin at school you may remember that 'probus' means 'of a good standard', 'well functioning'. The old meaning may be a coincidence, but Probus does function well.

It's not too hard to find an efficient committee among retired business and professional people. To keep the leadership rotating presidents can hold office for only one year.

New Probus clubs are founded by Rotary Clubs - nowadays often to cope with large waiting lists for existing clubs. Each club has a fixed membership limit. The founding Rotary club takes an interest in the Probus club, but has no power to control its affairs.

Each club is affiliated to the Probus Association in its general area. Christchurch clubs belong to the Northern South Island Probus Association. The area associations belong to a wider group, in the case of New Zealand clubs the umbrella organisation covers Australia and New Zealand. These associations disseminate information and offer support to member groups.

Probus members travelling within Australia and New Zealand can consult the area directory of clubs held by each club secretary, and then contact the secretary of any Probus group they may wish to visit on their travels.

All clubs under the Probus name must be non-political and non-sectarian.

Not a fund raising service club
Unlike Rotary, Probus clubs are not service clubs and don't raise funds. Neither do they seek to make a profit. They charge a moderate membership fee - enough to cover the expenses of the monthly meeting.

What happens at the monthly meeting?
Most clubs meet at 10 a.m. Club business is kept to a minimum - mainly notices about future activities. Then a club member talks for ten minutes on some topic of personal interest.

The morning tea break is half an hour because this is an important time for sociability.

Roger Murdoch, President of the Russley Probus Club with Margaret Sweet.

Next there is an invited speaker who talks for about half an hour on a topic of general interest and then answers questions. Margaret Sweet, programme organiser for the Russley Probus Club in 1989-9, planned a programme with both men and women as speakers, and a good mix of topics - social and international issues, the new Otira viaduct, overseas travel and for the Christmas meeting a light hearted look at a musician's career.

If the Probus club meets where there is a catering facility members are encouraged to stay for lunch - an opportunity for more conversation with other members and often lively discussion on the speaker's topic for the morning.

Not just meetings
The Russley Probus Club last year lunched at a winery and visited a nut farm, and lunched at a country club for a Christmas celebration. They also combined with another Probus club for a tea dance which drew on to the dance floor a lot of people who had not danced for aeons.

Probus members at Dunhampton Lilyfields, Mt Somers.

Their full day bus tour was so well patronised that they had two full buses on their tour to Mt Somers in the foothills of mid-Canterbury. They visited a lily garden where they had morning tea, a historic cottage, Mt Somers sheep station where they had lunch and heard some local history, and an apiary where they had afternoon tea.

What about joining a Probus club?
If you are finding that after that first flush of enthusiasm for catching up long postponed jobs around the house or garden the days are rather long and empty, you could consider joining Probus, but remember that if you are joining one of the fastest growing movements in the world you will probably have to start on a waiting list.