Welcome to the Melbourne Bearbrass Probus Club
Our club vision : Melbourne Bearbrass Probus is an active, engaging, member-driven group who come together to undertake a wide variety of enriching and enjoyable social activities and outings, which enhance their experiences and interests, whilst enjoying the fellowship of an expanding, diverse, network of friends.
President Mel’s Welcome

For first timer’s, welcome to the Melbourne Bearbrass Probus website and welcome back to regular viewers. Our club has been busy, busy, busy since we have been able to get back to face to face activity.
(Pic left: Pam, grandson Lenny and Mel)
 
I'm pleased to see plenty of activity and some new initiatives merging - the Bertie Street Gastro Outing (hopefully not what we get from the event!) and Christmas in July, should all be great events. Plus a forward schedule of great speakers - what more could you want?? 
 
If you are not currently a member of the club, please feel free to browse the content of this site and learn a little more about what we are and what we do. Should you want to make personal contact go to the “Contact Us “ tab above or if you would like to submit an application to join, go to the “How to join us” tab also above.
ZOOM TRIVIA NIGHT THIS SUNDAY JULY 25 AT 6PM
To escape the gloom of COVID lockdown, join us 6pm this Sunday for a cracking hour and a half of quiz stimulation. It goes well with your favorite tipple and pizza/pasta/toast. In fact there’ll be an interval mid-way for refreshment and the sort of sophisticated conversation at which our club members excel. Partners are welcome on-screen.
Quiz hosts are our resident intellectuals Coral-lee and Russell K (see pic). They have mobilised 50 questions in about six sections plus 2 bonus questions. The mind-teasers cover things like history, people, general knowledge, games, cinema, theatre, dumb stuff, literature and sport, with a bias towards our club’s own activities.
We understand stupendous prizes centred on chocolate are being organised.
To join the fun, just hit the Zoom link Secretary Sue sent you by email 20th July about 5pm. If you’ve lost it just phone Sue or President Mel who’ll fix you up.
Meeting Report July 13
Tuesday's meeting was a great blend of information and fellowship.
Close to 30 attended despite Covid unpredictabilities and a highlight was induction of three new members Judy G, Terry O and Gail B. (from left in pic). Vice-President Anne F ably ran proceedings and Dr Liz Rushen gave an excellent talk on early Victorian history and immigration.
There was quite a scrimmage to buy Dr Rushen's books, reminiscent of Boxing Day opening of David Jones!
First half was taken up by a veritable cornucopia of impending events. Check on what's coming by accessing our upcoming events list (eyes right!) or the Calendar menu item above for the whole shebang.
New members made welcome
Tuesday's (13/7) meeting was a chance to welcome three of our seven new members to the club, which now has 63 members. The trio are (from left), Gail B., Judy G and Terry O, pictured modelling their Melbourne winter ensembles outside the Dock Library.
Gail's background is administration management and her hobbies are Cooking, Reading, and Jewellery Making.
Judy's background is Secretarial and hobbies, Walking, Gardening, Films & Plays.
Terry's been a secondary teacher and hobbies Painting, Attending Classical Music Concerts, Walking, Dining & Bush Walking. She is a model Bearbrass member because she has already uploaded her portrait to our Clubrunner member directory.
Great Publicity for Bearbrass in Probian!
Thanks to Kerrie Matthee's superb photography our club scored a double-page color spread in The Probian this month. See screenshot.
Probian is the journal of the Probus Association of Victoria. It's published five times a year for close to 400 Clubs – that’s approaching 40,000 Probus members.
Best of all, the published story (below, as sent) includes a recruitment ad for our club with full contact details.
Probian also featured our New Year's Eve Antarctic journey a few months ago. It all helps build our visibility and brand; let's hope it helps grow our club.
Read more...
Julie Cookson – our recruitment champ
Julie C. is doing a fabulous job recruiting members for us – six have joined our happy band thanks to Julie’s word-of-mouth. We’re keen to keep expanding the club, partly because it gives us a better base for fun activities.
What’s Julie’s secret? "There isn’t any", she says "Just mention our club at any opportunity."
“I belong to a couple of other social groups like a coffee group and a women’s group,” she says. “I’ve lived in Docklands more than six years and evolved a wide-spread network. And for example, I met someone when I was doing my weekly shopping and she mentioned she was retiring so I mentioned Bearbrass.”
She doesn’t hard-sell our club – just mentions it to likely starters and points them to our website or friendly secretary Sue, who’ll help orient them to what we’re about.
“Because we’re a new club, we’re all open to creating friendship circles and newcomers don’t feel they’re outsiders and they fit in quickly,” Julie adds.
We’re particularly keen to recruit blokes so put your thinking caps on about who’s a prospect.
Wine Tasting Group meeting
Members of the Wine Tasting Group enjoyed a different experience last night. Because of the smaller than usual number of attendees the meeting venue was changed to Le Pont Wine Store in South Melbourne.
Buying our wines by the bottle as we went, we enjoyed a jaunt from Italy to Spain before settling very comfortably in Argentina - the same again please! A highlight of the evening was the opportunity to join in the 26th birthday celebrations of a member of the group sharing the long central table.
We are confident the Bearbass Probus members provided an outstanding example of growing older gracefullly to which they could aspire to!
Moulin Rouge tickets taken
Our Moulin Rouge tickets  fully subscribed
Our slab of 24 Moulin Rouge tickets for September 29 has been fully taken up by members and friends. A great night's in store.
What next? Be patient, the box office will send us our tickets close to the date of performance.
Mary Quant trip to Bendigo a great day
After overcoming the roadblocks of both COVID lockdown and interruptions on the rail link to Bendigo, we had an enthusiastic group of 8 who travelled up in 2 cars to see the exhibition on 29 June.
After a pleasant drive on a beautiful winter day, we arrived and enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the Gallery Café before taking an hour or two to wander through the exhibition in the beautiful Bendigo Art Gallery. The exhibition was very well presented and greatly enjoyed by all. Born in 1930, Mary Quant pioneered many fashion trends until she retired in 2000.
Thank you to Jan for stepping in to drive to Bendigo.
Here is our group ready to head into the Art Gallery.
Visit to Adelaide in the planning
The club has a trip to Adelaide planned for October 26-29 (Tues through Fri) and it is already building well with five starters to date.
Interested members should book airfares independently and the earlier the better to get cheaper tickets.
Full details are on the event page click here 
Interested? Simply register via the registration link (the blue button with MEMBERS on it) in the event detail page.
Those with queries can contact Julie Reid (julie.reid52@bigpond.com) or Tony Thomas (tthomas061@gmail.com)
 
About Our Club
Bearbrass Probus

We meet In Person
Tuesdays at 10:30 AM
Library at the Dock
Top Floor
107 Victoria Harbour Promenade
Docklands, VIC 3008
Australia
Phone:
0419 134 206
Email:
bearbrassprobus@gmail.com
The club meets on the second Tuesday of the month, 10am for 10.30am start. Speakers offer a presentation at each meeting on a variety of topics. Next meeting May 11, 2021. Then June 8 and July 13.
Venue Map
Apply for Membership
Upcoming Events
Speakers
Upcoming Speakers
Dr Rebecca Tunstall
Aug 10, 2021 11:30 AM
Championing commercialisation of Australian medical research into innovative health solutions
Championing commercialisation of Australian medical research into innovative health solutions
Mark Cochrane-Holley
Sep 14, 2021 11:30 AM
Melbourne’s Thriving Economy of the Future
Past Speakers
Dr Liz Rushen
Jul 13, 2021 11:30 AM
John Marshall and Bearbrass
Professor Briony Dow
Jun 08, 2021 11:00 AM
Ageing Gracefully
Sue Flanagan
May 11, 2021 11:00 AM
30 years of wonder at the Johnston Collection
Robin Bowles
Apr 13, 2021 11:00 AM
My Life of Crime
Julia Fraser
Feb 09, 2021 11:00 AM
Managing big projects
Air Vice-Marshall Alan Reed (rtd) AO DFC (US)
Dec 15, 2020
"Invited to a War" -- and other career highlights
View entire list...
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