Coffee & Chat

Jan Cheney 0400 889 705

Being the third Tuesday in the month, our next get-together will be on Tuesday 17th of March at 10.00am at

Olive Lane Café in the North Balwyn Village Shopping Centre in Doncaster Road.

We regularly have some dozen or so members attending. It is a very pleasant way for newer members to get to know their fellow members and have an enjoyable chat and coffee, at the same time.

You can contact me by text (0400 889 705) or email (jancheney@bigpond.com)to let me know of your attendance.

Or - just turn up! You will be made most welcome to this regular informal get-together.

We look forward to you joining us then.

President Pat Davies’ Inaugural Address:

Hello everyone, this is my very first President’s Address and I would like to say how very honoured I am to be in this position.

A huge thank you to Peter Gibbs for the wonderful job he did as President over the previous 12 months and I would also like to say how grateful I am that he has accepted the position of Membership Officer for 2026. We have a strong committee moving forward, but would like to call your attention to the fact that we still need a Speakers Co-ordinator. Thankfully we have quite a list of speakers lined up, but we do need someone to manage the area.

Our congratulations to Mike Pavey in being awarded our first ever Life Membership. This is very well deserved and an exciting milestone for our club.

I would like to take this opportunity to say how very sad I was to hear of the passing of long time member Neil Hookey. My sincere condolences to Meg and all of Neil’s family.

Before I see you in April, a group of us will have holidayed in Albury (organised by Peter Gibbs). I look forward to giving a full report, even though it may have to be toned down a little. Just joking!

We hopefully have a great year ahead of us. We have some interesting outings coming up and it is most reassuring that our club is in a sound financial position.

I look forward to working with everyone in the coming months to ensure that we all enjoy “friendship, fellowship and FUN”.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Easter – I do hope that the Easter Bunny visits your house with a basket of goodies overflowing.

Pat Davies: 0409 565 106 - email: patriciadavies21@gmail.com

Remember our next meeting is the SECOND Monday in April, the 13th.

Armchair Travel

Convenor: Shirley Fenemor

Happy New Year Travellers. I trust you are all fit and ready to travel with us again. This month, Wednesday 25th February 7:30pm, David Brown will be taking us to Dalmatia and he has prepared some information for you.

As usual we are meeting at Manningtree in Hawthorn and parking will be available in the forecourt. If you need further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Well, here we go again! 4th Wednesday is 25th of March and we will meet as usual at Manningtree, 20-26 Manningtree Road, Hawthorn.

Parking is usually available in the forecourt. This month Tom will be presenting on our trip to Spain, Portugal and England. This is a repeat presentation from some time ago but you may have forgotten it anyway !!??.

Auburn Probus Club supports the Boroondara Symphonic Band

Colin Richards

SUNDAY 22ND MARCH 2.30pm Summer Festival Concert at Holy Trinity Kew.

Come along and enjoy this free concert.

Footy Tipping 2026

Mike Pavey 0418 990 815

The AFL Home & Away Season has started with Zero Rounds and Byes for Clubs up to Round 4

We have 20 members who are tipping this season, the same as last year.

We have lost some tippers this season but have pleasure in welcoming the new tippers:

Pat Davies, Peter Brown, Patricia Cleary, Peter Cleary and Peter Lewis.

The numbers split about 50:50 between the sexes, and the winners going the way of fairer sex 4 to 3. Congratulations to the winners for the first 4+0 Rounds.

Round 0                Pat Cleary

Round 1                Tom Belleville

Round 2                Loretta Belleville

Round 3                3 Way Tie Between Pat & Peter Cleary and Trevor Mackey

Round 4                Lorraine Borley

If assistance is required contact Mike Pavey.

Golf Group

Gary Jackson

In March we move to Wattle Park Golf Course, with a Tee off time for Tuesday 3rd and Mondays 9th  (no game scheduled for Labour Day week) 16th, 23rd and 30th is 9.40am.

Golf results for February

Brew and Chew

Ian Phillips 0428 858 272

As Easter has passed, our thoughts have to turn to the next celebration - this Anzac-day, and so, to the first Anzac day.

That campaign in 1915 began by an attempt to bring about “regime change” by forcing open a strait, in that case Ottoman Turkey and the Dardanelles. That didn’t end well!

The similarities then and now are well explored in an essay, late March, from the Australian Naval Institute entitled “Mines lessons from the Dardanelles 1915”. It is responsible and well put together and generally a rewarding Google search.The essay draws on strategic wisdom for the time of Nelson (“A ship is a fool to fight a fort.”). In essence, well-defended and mined straits can only be forced at considerable cost, if at all. Naval attempts in 1915 failed with the loss of a number of British warships, (despite the success of an Australian submarine in inflicting some damage), leading to the alternative disaster of attempting a land-based victory by landing at Gallipoli.

But, of course, it will all be very different now (irony intended)!

So faced with the prospect of on-going constrained oil supplies, various worthies have agitated for oil exploration here, presuming, not unreasonably, that the normal life will be so slow in returning that we will have time to fill our bowsers from wild-cats.

Desperate times lead to desperate measures – in dire straits (pun intended), from 1942, a joint Federal and State enterprise dug a shaft (!) twelve feet in diameter and twelve hundred feet deep to the layers that seeped oil at Lakes Entrance (where oil traces had been observed for years), and then drilled laterally – the recovered crude was then hauled to the surface in buckets!

As it unlikely we can extract a toll on ships passing through our Bass Strait, we had better get back to securing our own supply of oil somehow – we will have time to do this so long as oil can pass from the Gulf of Mexico (sorry, Gulf of America) via Panama, assuming that doesn’t blow up too. But, by the time Brew & Chew meets at the Camberwell library (the fourth Wednesday of each month), the “war” will be over we are told, so there will be something else to talk about – the football perhaps.

Ian Phillips – irp@alphalink.com.au 7 April 2026

The Walking Group meets twice a month usually on the 2nd and 4th Monday.

Rita Hayes 0417 988 859 & Helga O’loughlin 0427 829 000

Rita and I are just starting on this activity so we issue a warm welcome to everyone.

We are open to ideas on how we can we make it enjoyable for all.

The 9th of March is a Holiday (Labour Day) so no walking.

23rd of March I have chosen the Yarra River Walk, leaving at 10.00 am. Please arrive at 9.50 am, Hotel Amora, 649 Bridge Rd. Richmond (photo left). Transport: Tram # 75 Stop 23 Yarra Boulevard/Bridge Road. Tram # 48 Stop 23 Cars (Melway ref: 45 H9) use side streets - 2 hour parking available. Our walk will be a moderate and beautiful one no steps except a little incline. Rita will be away on holiday, so I will be your tour Leader. Any enquiries, text or phone me.

Dine - out

John McIntosh 0402 458 061

The Dine Out Groups arranges bookings for either Lunch or Dinner at various restaurants and cafes in the area

The next Dine Out will be at Box Hill RSL on Monday April 20th.

We convene from 6.30pm for a 7.30pm start.

If you intend coming please record your name at the desk at Monday’s meeting.

Membership

Sandi Fitzpatrick         Ass. Laurice Stainsby

March Meeting

Could you please let Laurice know if you will not be attending the Annual General Meeting.

New Members: nil          Deaths: nil

Resignations: Glen Keane, Janie Pirret, Lee Phillips, Sandi Fitzpatrick (all moving to a local Probus Club)

Birthdays for March

Keith Creed, Barbara Edwards, Ann Rusden, Judith Tymms, Susan Hutchins, Ian Macfarlane, Ronda D'Paul, Jenni Williams and Carole Carr.

It is recommended that members wear their name badges on outings to make it easier for new members to join in.

Please ring or text apologies to Laurice.

Our speaker for March 

is

Scott Breschkin

Scott is a Marine Conservation Officer with The Nature Conservancy Australia and currently leads several marine restoration projects in Victoria, including restoring golden kelp in and on shellfish reefs. Scott loves getting below the surface to experience firsthand the changes and benefits from these restoration projects over time and he’s always looking for practical ways to get restoration to scale. Scott’s subject for our meeting is: Shellfish reef Restoration

 The title of Scott's address is: “ Shellfish reef Restoration”

Outings

Sandy Tilley 0460 678 668 & Annette Brownscombe 0418 400 352

Treasurer’s Report

John Lagzdins - 0434 870 199

Subscription Reminder

Dear Probus members,

The Club’s Annual General Meeting on March 2nd approved the ordinary member subscription rate for 2026/27 to be $75.00 per member (unchanged from 2025).

In accord with the new Constitution passed by members at the AGM, payment is due by March 31st.

It would be appreciated if Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) could be made by that date, ensuring that your details are entered in the reference field. It would be helpful if you can also send me a brief confirming note by

email or SMS.

Payments to Auburn Probus can be made either by EFT to our new bank account with Bendigo Bank or a visit to any of their branches.

BSB: 633 000

Account name: Combined Probus Club of Auburn

Account Number: 240 474 353

For any matters requiring my attention my details are:

email: Lagzdins@melbpc.org.au        phone: 0434 870 199

Auburn Probus treasurer’s report for the month to 20th February 2026.

The bank balance is $7,504.97 including the $1,760 grant from Council.

In the month to date we banked $2,130.00 for two outings and footy tipping of $30.00.

We paid out $2,130.00 for outings scheduled for March and April and minor expenses of $40.00.

The rent for the meeting room for $500.00 is unpaid.

The AGM meeting will report a surplus of $549.77 for the year to December 31st.

John Lagzdins Email: Lagzdins@melbpc.org.au

Our New Bank Account Details are: Bendigo Bank: BSB - 633 000 Account No. - 240 474 353

If paying any EFT or cash to this account please include your name for reference

Vice President’s Notes

Morning Tea Roster for March Meeting

Pat Davies

Barbara Edwards & Janet Howard Smith

Please be at the clubrooms by 9.30am to assist with the preparations.

If you are unable to attend on the day you are on duty, please arrange for someone else to take your place.

Vice President’s Club Diary

David Brown

Congratulations David on being the Vice President for 2026 - 27

The diary lists all Club activities for the whole year. All Organisers and Convenors must contact David Brown to let him know the proposed date of activities planned for verification thus ensuring that there are no clashes of activities.

The Latest Newsletter for March 2026 is now available.

Read Here By Clicking Here Newsletter245March2026.pdf