Review for May 2025
The PROBUS Club of Blue Mountain Meeting Review is published following each regular meeting providing members with a summary of any meetings they may have missed. Prior Reviews can easily be found under the Meeting Reviews Tab above.
PROBUS Club of Blue Mountain
Friendship, Fellowship, and Fun
Thursday May 15th
President’s Comments
Michael began the meeting by encouraging everyone to start their summer activities and get outside and enjoy the weather. He then mentioned that a lot has happened in the last month with the election of Mark Carney, as our new Prime Minister, and the surprise election of Pope Leo XIV, which caused excitement and hope for peace around the world. Michael talked about the recent meeting with President Trump and the positive things said about the Canada/US relationship but reiterated to Trump, that Canada was not for sale. Hopefully, both of these elections will bode well for increased stability and safety for Canadians
Michael Coward michael.coward@gmail.com
New Members
Michael introduced Tom Jopling and Rob Franklin as new members to the Probus Blue Mountain.
Wayne Pittman introduced Stu Auty as a new guest to Probus Blue Mountain.
Welcome gentlemen!
NEW MEMBER CHAMPAIGN IN THE COLLINGWOOD TODAY!
Michael Coward will be doing an interview with a reporter for the Spot Light section of the Collingwood Today this Friday. He will be talking about the PROBUS Club of Blue Mountain, a club for retired men, that offers access to a large number of outdoors activities and events, interesting tours and interesting guest speakers monthly. The interview should be in the paper sometime next week. Check it out!
PROBUS WEBSITE (probusblue.ca)
Bill Booth gave a very informative demonstration on the features that the website holds. He began by taking us through the menu which consisted of the tabs HOME, WHAT’S UP, NEWS, REVIEWS, ACTIVITIES, ABOUT US AND MEMBERS and giving us the need-to-know information that each tab contains. Check it out if you haven’t already.
Thanks Bill!
Activity Announcements
Chris spoke to the following activities/events:
- Lunch Group – Wednesday, June 11, noon – Chuck’s Roadhouse - Chris
- Cycling Group – Tuesday, May 20 – Collingwood – Thornbury - Dan Edwards
- Tuesday, May 27 – Osler Loop – John Kutcy and Jack Pady
- Tuesday, June 3 – Elmvale to Fort Willow – Dennis Onn
- Tuesday, June 10 – Georgian Hills Winery Loop – Richard Rood
- Tuesday, June 17 – Local Ride: Montera – Jack Pady, Dennis Onn, John Kutcy
- Paddling Group – Thursday, May 22 – Beaver River #2 to #3 – Michael Coward
- Thursday, June 5 – Jack’s Lake – Jim Schaus
- Thursday, June 19 – Saugeen River to Paisley – Jim Higgins
- Hiking Group – Wednesday, May 28 – Frank’s Kiln and The Big Hole – Bill Brennan
- Bridge Club – first and third Thursday of each month – at the Legion – George Powell
- Golf Tournament – Thursday, Thurs., June 12 – Duntroon – Dave Thomson
- Impossible Metals – Tues., June 25, 93 Sanford Fleming Drive, Unit 1 – Don McLoughlin
- MacLean Engineering Tour – TBD in July – 4 or 5 pm, 300 Raglan St. – Stephen Hyndman
- Grease – King’s Wharf – Thursday, Aug. 28 – David Thomson
- Early Summer Cocktail Party – Fri., June 20, 5-7pm – Coward Household – Michael Coward
- SKI LEGENDS
- St. Anton, Austria – February 5 – 14, 2026
- Sun Peaks, B.C. – February 25 – March 4, 2026
- Online Trip Applications will open on Wednesday, May 21 at 6 pm
- GEORGIAN PROBUS TRAVEL GROUP
- Muskoka Cruise – July 10-11, 2025
- Rideau Summer Cruise – Sept. 6-11, 2025
- Manitoulan Island/Agawa Canyon Train Tour – Sept. 29- Oct. 3, 2025
- Morocco Trip – Apr. 10-24, 2026
PLEASE CHECK THE PROBUS NEWSLETTER FOR MORE INFO CONCERNING THESE ACTIITIES
ALSO, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE FILLED OUT WAIVER FORMS BEFORE GETTING INVOLVED IN ANY ACTIVITY!
Kultural Attaché - Bill Barclay
Bill, once again entertained us with his jokes this month. He began with a birthday surprise celebration that probably ended in a divorce and golf jokes that involved John Daley’s putters handicaps and testicles. His final jokes involved a small plane that was about to crash that was carrying Trump, a 12 yr. old boy and finally at a celebration of life, why a bouquet was thrown to the well wishers.
Bill’s trivia, this month: what country gave the Statute of Liberty to the US – France, the smallest country in the world – Vatican, which country has the most volcanoes – Indonesia, what is the largest mammal – blue whale and which sport has the terms pike and tuck – diving.
Thanks Bill!
Speaker
Stephen McKee introduced this month’s guest speaker, Dr. Bob Galway “Dr. Bob”, an orthopedic surgeon and aviation historian.
Dr. Bob talked about Richard Sterling Finnie, (a Canadian author, film director and Arctic explorer and historian) and the interesting facts of the Arctic in the early 1900’s, through books, pictures and film. Dick Finnie was born Dawson City in 1906 and spent most of his life living and travelling the Arctic. He wrote the book Land of Ice and Snow: An Introduction, that dealt with the Arctic and the life of its people. His portraits of children, men, women, trappers and hunters gave us a better understanding of how the Inuit lived in the Arctic and their hardships (women living to the age of 30 and then walking away from their family to die, men living to the age of 55 and snow blindness).
Finnie was important in mineral discoveries with the exploration program NAME, opening up the Northwest Passage, setting a 12mile boundary waters for Canada and doing a documentary of the opening of the Alaskan Highway. Dick Finnie died in 1987 in California and it is believed if he had stayed in Canada would have received The Order of Canada medal. Thanks Dr. Bob!
50/50 Draw
The winners this month were:
Jack Pady, Bill Stratton and Glen Weir
Next Meeting June 19th at the Legion.
The PROBUS Club of Blue Mountain Meeting Review is published after each regular meeting. Content is provided by Meeting Review Editor, Dale White, and Webmaster Bill Booth makes it all look presentable.
PROBUS Club of Blue Mountain
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