Happy 40th, Kapiti!

17 Dec 2014

The Probus Club of Kapiti Coast in New Zealand recently celebrated its 40th anniversary with a delicious lunch and entertainment at the Southward Museum Hall, which was packed with 150 people. 

There was fine food and wine, speeches, presentations, life time awards, thunderous music from the Wurlitzer organ that rose out of the floor and a cake that was cut and shared with everyone. 

The first meeting of the Kapiti Coast Probus Club took place at the Kapiti Boating Club on 5 November 1974, when 12 men responded to an advertisement in the Kapiti Observer. It was  Rotarian Gordon Roatz's idea to bring Probus to Kapiti as the very first club in the Souhern Hemisphere. The committee included Lindsay Penno, Eric Woon, Terry Ward and Gordon Roatz. 

Since then, 12 more Probus clubs on the Kapiti Coast with a combined membership of around 1,500 have been launched.