GENERAL MEETINGS
We meet for two hours from 10.00am on the second Tuesday of each month at theWhitehorse Civic Centre, in the Willis Room.
This comprises a brief general meeting, outlining important club matters and a summary of the most recent Management Committee meeting.
Morning tea and socialising is followed by a guest speaker.
All are invited to a post meeting lunch at The Coach in Ringwood.
2025 Guest Speakers/ Entertainment.
May Speaker - Elida Brereton
Eli Courtesy: https://www.wheelercentre.com/people/elida-brereton
Elida Brereton is a teacher, school principal and educational consultant and leader. Brereton has spent 43 years as teacher, Assistant Principal and Principal in the Victorian government school system, with nearly 18 years as Principal – at Brentwood Secondary College (1993–1994) and at Camberwell High School (1994–2010).
April 2025 - Members Glenn Ewing and Michael Ransom
Unfortunately, our promoted speaker was on the sick list and unable to entertain us today, but maybe another time, so very short notice two club members stood up and certainly kept us entertained.
Glenn Ewing spent some time reciting poetry he had written over time – Trapped within the Aisles of Tears. Glenn loves his poetry and has written so many pieces some of which are very humerous.
He also spent time promoting various events on in Melbourne - eg exhibitions at the National Gallery of Victoria.
He also spent quite an amount of time talking about famous ‘or important’ people buried in the Box Hill Cemetery. Well worth a wander through the cemetery ‘if you are not toooo scared’ of such places.
Amy Castles, soprano in the era of Nellie Melba.
Detective John Mitchell Christie - A good athlete, Christie became well known in boxing and rowing circles throughout Australia.
John Grainger - father of composer Percy Grainger.
Dr Belle Reid - When she graduated with honours in 1906, she created history by being the first woman in Australia to be registered as a veterinary surgeon and one of the first in the English speaking world.
C.J. Dennis - an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke(1915).
Callister, Cyril - Industrial Chemist and Food Technologist (Inventor of Vegemite)
Constance Emily Rosa Dickins - The headstone over the grave commemorates Constance Emily Rose Dickins, wide of Edward Dickens who was the youngest son of novelist Charles Dickens. She was buried in an unmarked grave in Box Hill Cemetery.
Michael talked on some of his tripping around the state talking to Probus Clubs who had been affected by flooding in their areas a few years ago. Those Clubs were so thankful for their Probus Club as it was a place to meet in a friendly space amongst friends all in a similar position.
Michael then asked each table to talk about what makes our Club great. Listening to the feedback, every activity we offer was thought to be great and most worthwhile, from the welcome on arrival, morning tea, Monday coffee, lunch after the meeting, great size Club, the quiz, not clicky and all the activities offered enjoyed by friendly members.
Thank you to Gleen and Michael for stepping into the breach and keeping us entertained.
March - Gerry Cross.
Wow! Our own President, Gerry gave a most interesting talk on his life as a forester for over 50 years. He has worked in the ACT, Philipines, Solomon Islands, PNG, Canada, West Australia, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. In PNG and Canada he said he felt like a pioneer. In total, he and his family moved 19 times. The last 27 years of his career he was a consultant and that more than 110 million trees were replanted during his time as a forester.
As a forest engineer he with his team planned where to harvest, provision of roads and bridges to gain access to the required timber for logging. In Canada he was involved in cable logging for 8 years. In British Columbia, Canada, they flew in/flew out for work and had a single engine plane and constantly had to contend with wildlife on the strip – moose, elk, goats and bear. They had to bury their food so the bears could not sniff out tonight’s dinner.
‘Greenies’ were always in the areas of timber logging, especially in ACT and Tasmania. Fires were a constant concern to the workers. How do we get out? 80% of fires are lit by people and 20% result from lightning strikes.
Selective logging was done. They would select a 1m diameter tree and fell it. In Gerry’s time the cost was $17cubic metre and sold it to Japan. Rainforests are very resilient and are understated with the way they regenerate. Slash burning was used to help seed regrowth and this was generally very fast, as trees go. There were ‘codes’ for logging – not on a south face. This was to protect streams and wildlife, eg. deer. Felled logs would be machine stripped of bark, bark would be mulched and spread over the now bare land as fertiliser for the new growth. There is now approx. 4000 hectares of forest in the Ord River area.
Many dangers encountered and had to be avoided at all costs. Chain saw accidents, in the older plank method of felling, falling from the planks was always a risk, after fires, trees/branches falling when not expected. Tree fallers were most at risk as the cut tree could spring in any direction and catch the faller off guard.
Scale of operations was huge – harvesting thousands of hectares to produce millions of tonnes of wood for paper mills, shingle mills, veneer mills, sawmills and particle board plants. Harvesting systems used were – axe and crosscut, horses and oxen, chainsaws, bulldozers and skidders, cable systems, mechanised systems, rail then roads, steam trains and now trucks.
Thanks you Gerry for a great ‘friendly’ talk.
February - Gary Kerr. Gary made a return visit as he had been so popular when he last entertained the group.
His topic was music of the 1960's which was interspersed with major events of the year. He featured songs by Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield, Tony Jones, The Beatlers, The Seekers and Neil Diamond.
Major events were Harold Holt's disappearance, Princess Margaret married Tony Armstrong-Jones, Yuro Gagarin the first man into space, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, the Cuban crisis, Jean Shrimpton and her very short dress worn to the Melbourne races and Barbie needed Ken for company.
Thank you Gary for another great presentation.
The usual luscious morning tea was enjoyed by all attendees - scones, jam and cream and strawberriers, fruit cake, shortbread, biscuits and good old favourites, Tim Tams.
Thank you Daryl.
Photo Courtesy Neil Jenkin 
January - Darren Arnott - Italian Prisoners of War in Australia.during ther latterr years of WW2 and camps across Australia.
Courtesy: https://www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/rowville.htm
A most interesting talk and slides relatingen the story of Italian POW's, in this case housed at Rowville at the corner of Stud and Wellington Roads. By 1945 more than 18,000 prisoners were shipped to Australia.
Italian Prisoner of War, infantryman Private Rodolfo Bartoli, from Firenze, Italy, was shot while 'attempting' to escape from Rowville POW Camp on 29 March 1946. He died on 30 March 1946.
He was captured on 10 October 1940. He disembarked from the ship Queen Elizaabeth on 15 Octoeber 1941. He transfgerred tol Rowville on 9 October 1945.
Courtesy: https://www.sbs.com.au/language/italian/en/article/no-regard-for-the-truth-mystery-surrounds-the-tragic-death-of-an-italian-pow-interned-in-australia-after-wwii/ctu0qqu1v
Rodolfo had a love interest, Nora, but sadly he was killed in the camp by a single gunshot. Seven inquiries followed by police, mil,tary and government but the 'shooter' was never flound to be responsible. Capt Waterston claimed Rodolfo was trying to escape. The Captain was known to be a drunkard in the camp.
He was temporally suspended during the latest inquiry, which exposed a general attitude of disdain towards the POW's and a 'wanton use of weapons'. He was eventually equitted in the first two inquiries, while the coroner's was inconclusive
2024 Guest Speakers/Entertainment Planned
February -Emma Barnett - Yarra River Keeper
March -ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
April - Jeremy Furness - Book Publishing Children's Books
May - Peter Koens Cardio Vascular X ray technolocy. Assisting underdeveloped countries.
June - Yvonne Poker - Gadget Girl
July - Christmas in July - no speaker.
August - The Golden Age of Musical Comedy
September - Former Olympic swimmer, Sue Hardbottle, 1968 Olympics
October - No speaker - BBQ lunch
November - The great Peter Smith
December - No speaker - Christmas Lunch.
2024 Guest Speakers/Entertainment, So far -
November 2024 -
The great Peter Smith - My Life in Radio and Television.
Courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Smith_(announcer)
Photo courtesy Club Member
Radio
Upon leaving school, Smith joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a messenger boy before progressing through the ranks to an announcer on the home service and Radio Australia. On radio in the 1960's, Smith worked with radio station 3AK as a 'good guy' and on The Greater 3UZ as it was known during the 1970's.
Television
As television was introduced into Australia, Smith performed the role of announcer and host for the weekly ABV2 television program Sports View Hit Parade, broadcast on Saturday afternoons.
October - Ken Spargo - The Accidental Author
Ken told of the difficulties getting books accepted, printed and distributed and the huge costs involved for a few cents return for the countless hours of work undertaken. Ken was very methodical with his accounting business to keep a very accurate knowledge of all that goes into writing each book.
"Wanna-be' authors have a very hard time from the first thoughts to the final multi-proof read stories and still no success.
Ken's talk was most humerous and many laughs were had by the large attendance at the meeting.
Several books were on sale at the meeting and many members were searching for an autographed copy.
Photos courtesy: Neil Jenkin and Glenn Ewing
September - Former Olympic swimmer, Sue Hardbottle, 1968 Olympics
Photos: Chris Summers and Neil Jenkin
It was thrilling to have an Olympian as a guest speaker at our most recent general meeting.
Sue told lots of stories about her as a 17 year old going to her first Olympics. Male and female athletes werre housed in multi story buildings at the opposite ends of the complex. The girls were fenced in with barbed wire, locked gate and a security guard on the gate. There was no tv for athletes and basic accommodation was provided. She gave many backlground stories about participating in a high altitude sports meeting.
She showed her uniform - hat, blazer, shirt, skirt etc which she had kept as well as the Olympic Torch she carrfied in the Sydney Olympic Games. Sue was quite surprised she could still fit the blazer but could not do up the buttons. She refused to try the old swimming costume, complete with its 'privacy shield.
A very interesting speaker with a touch of comedy as well.
At the September meeting, members wore footy regalia as we celebrated the two footy tipping competitions. Lots of fun had by all.
Each meeting has a general quiz which causes great laughter - and sometimes cheating thanks to Mr Google. Photos: Chris Summers
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