Photos from the Oct 13 Lunch and Alpaca Tour
Photos from Oct 12th Bowling
New Photos Posted Here
See: February Newsletter
January is a month for taking stock and reflection. Our guests have left; we are back to our normal routines. Soon, days will start being noticeably longer. As I write this message, we have had three days of sunshine in a row! (Looking at the forecast, that won’t last. But forecasts have been wrong before.)
And our Probus Club activities, after a short holiday break, are stepping up apace. Our Social Committee is hard at work organizing an exciting and varied lineup of events and activities. Hikers are hiking, book clubbers are reading, knitters are knitting, skiers are…. Dancing?
I encourage you, while you are still in New Year’s resolution mode, to include participation in your plans and goals. Try new things, meet new people and make new friends, share some laughs.
See you at the meeting on January 25. I am very excited to hear this month’s speaker. And keep on dancing that snow dance – so that we can enjoy more of the great things about winter.
Betty Farquharson President
NEXT MONTHLY MEETING: WEDNESDAY JANUARY 25, 2023 1:00 PM NEW LIFE CHURCH – 28 Tracey Ln, Collingwood – See you there or via Zoom
Ted Barris was born July 12, 1949 in Toronto, Ontario) and is a Canadian writer, journalist, professor and broadcaster. His father, Alex Barris was a well-known Canadian author and broadcaster, and inspired his son's career in writing and broadcasting. In grade school, he wanted to become a writer with his first research for a term paper, "The Causes of the War of 1812", leading to his elementary school teacher encouraging him. Barris became interested in history and historical writing, a genre that would dominate his later writing career and the rest as they say is “history”.
He writes a weekly column, "The Barris Beat", and is a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail and the National Post. His non-fiction works focus on Canada's military heritage. Barris has authored 18 books. [1]
The Battle of the Atlantic, Canada’s longest continuous military engagement of the Second World War, lasted 2,074 days, claiming the lives of more than 4,000 men and women in the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian merchant navy
The story of Canada’s naval awakening from the dark, bloody winters of 1939–1942, to be “ready, aye, ready” to challenge the U-boats and drive them to defeat, is a Canadian wartime saga for the ages. While Canadians think of the Great War battle of Vimy Ridge as the country’s coming of age, it was the Battle of the Atlantic that proved Canada’s gauntlet to victory and a nation-building milestone.
Come out for a fun afternoon at the Collingwood Library and play trivia run by our own 4Seasons Probus trivia team! The date is Monday Feb 6 from 2-4 pm in Room C. The participation cost is $12 which includes room rental, snacks and prizes. This event is BYOB or any drink you may like to enjoy. The maximum number of people is 100.Sign up and pay $12 online by Jan 31. SORRY NO REFUNDS
Sign up and pay $12 online by Jan 31. SORRY NO REFUNDS
Sign up here Trivia Fun
We are offering a paint class at Collingwood Art Class, 77 Simcoe St. Collingwood on Tuesday, Feb 7 from 6-9 pm. The cost is $56.50 person which includes in-person step-by-step instruction by an artist and all materials so that you can produce a painting of your own to take home at the end of the class. This event is BYOB and has a maximum of 8 spots. If this proves to be popular, we are happy to book additional class times.
Sign up and pay $65.50 online by Jan 31. SORRY NO REFUNDS
Sign up here: Paint Class
We have booked an old-fashioned sleigh ride at Valley Ridge Family Farm, 615852 3rd Line, Ravenna for Wednesday, Feb 15 with three sleigh rides at 1, 2 and 3 pm. The cost is $35 per person and includes a one-hour sleigh ride around the 128 acre farm with stops for photos, time with the horses and hot chocolate around a fire to warm up! We will place you in a time slot, either 1:00, 2:00 or 3:00 pm after sign-up in order to make up groups of 10, which is the number of people required for each sleigh ride. If this event has more than 30 people wishing to go, we can add additional sleigh rides on the same day as long as we have groups of 10 more people.
Sign up and pay $35 online by Feb 8. SORRY NO REFUNDS.
Sign up here Sleigh Ride
Sign up here: Darts February
Once again, we are organizing an opportunity to mix and mingle with fellow members soon after our monthly General Meeting. The location is hush hush as we try to comply with local capacity bylaws. Location and time is confirmed by email a few days before the event.
Sign up here Happy Hour February 22
Yes, Girls’ Night Out is back, baby! Same host and crew too! Last year, a snowstorm couldn’t prevent most of us from attending this raucous sold-out event. To prevent the disappointment of missing out, make sure you sign up early.
Sign up and pay by January 31. Tickets are $45.20 all-in. NO REFUNDS
Sign up here Girls' Night Out
The boys of summer are back! Will they bring back the glory days of the 1990’s? Time will tell. Regardless of where they are in the standings, The Blue Jays are Canada’s Team. Join us for Field Level seats for a 1:07 pm afternoon game. We will be carpooling. The Jays Organization has offered us reserved parking at the stadium – stay tuned for a price update. Public Transit, aka Barrie GO, is also another option. No matter how we get there, we will be together cheering in the stands.
To secure field level discounted group tickets of $51.30 each (taxes and fees included), we need a minimum of 25 people to sign up and pay by Friday January 27th. If the minimum is not met, we will offer you a choice of a full refund or to accept the tickets at the regular price $TBA.
Sign up here Toronto Blue Jays
We have new and continuing activities for our club in 2023! Join our groups to meet members who enjoy the same activities you do.
We have two clubs which are meeting monthly, but are fully subscribed. If you would like to start a new club, please contact Joanne. I can connect you with people willing to help you get started.
Sadly we have not been able to organize a lot of dates due to the lack of snow, but Bruce Clark is still watching the weather and doing his snow dances. There have been some outings, and there will be more for sure.
Our hikers are going out weekly, with varying degrees of challenge. We have had hikes in Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, Loree Forest, a Wolf Moon (which hid behind the clouds) evening hike, Bruce Trail, and more. Click this link to sign-up: Snowshoeing/Winter Hiking
Leaders are sending emails announcing their hikes to all those who have signed up for this activity. If you would like to participate, but are not receiving emails, please complete the sign up form below to have your name added.
If you have questions, contact Betty Farquharson, Linda Murphy or Mike Travers
This group meets on the first Tuesday of the month via Zoom. There have been trips to the Antarctic, Morocco, Costa Rica, Argentina and Bike and Barge in the Netherlands presented. And many more to come!!
If you have questions, contact Eswar Persad
Our knitting leader Sandi Allevato is again organizing monthly knitting sessions. This group meets at various members’ homes, and is a very interesting group of ladies. Prior knowledge of knitting is not required. Group members are happy to teach, and the conversation is always great.
The activity many of you have been waiting for will be coming starting in February. For those who don’t know what this is, here is how it works. People sign up for the dates the wish to attend.
Each dinner includes a maximum of 8 people. From the list of interested members, groups of 6 are randomly put together by our organizers and matched with volunteer “hosts”. Couples attend together. Hosts volunteer to have the dinner party at their home. They must have seating for 8—6 guests plus themselves. Their job is minimal—prepare the table, present the food items the guests have brought and make coffee or tea if desired. Each guest is asked to bring a beverage of their choice and one course which will serve 8 people and will be advised of the time of the dinner and the address. No one will know the name of the host or the other guests until they arrive.
The organizers will provide each individual (or couple) which course to prepare and bring to the meal and what the dinner party “theme” is, for example Italian, Asian fusion, Sunday night football, etc.
This activity is really fun, takes little effort, and results in meeting new members, drinking a little wine or other beverage, and savouring a lovely meal.
The three dates proposed are:
Please complete the sign up form(s) attached for the date or dates you would like to attend. Make sure you indicate if you can host. Hosts are crucial to have this activity happen (and hosts have minimal work to do). You will receive a message to confirm the date as soon as hosts have been confirmed
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner February 15 Sign up by: January 31, 2023
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner March 15 Sign up by February 28, 2023
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner April 19 Sign up by April 4, 2023
If you have never participated in this activity, please sign up, you will have a very enjoyable evening, and meet some really interesting people. Contact Diane Fitzgerald or Rita Hafeman if you have any questions.
Betty Farquharson will be hosting our first Board Games event on January 22. This is a new activity for our club, and should be a fun one. We will be organizing and promoting more dates in the future. If you have not signed up but would like to, please complete the form below.
Sign up here for Board Games
Chen Cohen is organizing our bowling dates for us. The next one is January 26, to be followed by another one on February 23. Georgian Bowl on Hurontario Street is where the action is. Bowling will be at 1:45 for shoe fitting followed by 2 games of bowling from 2-3:00 pm. Cost is $20.00, to be paid by etransfer to probus4seasons@gmail.com when you sign up. Remember to indicate in the message section who you are paying for, and that you are paying for bowling
Sign up here for Bowling
Despite the lack of co-operation from Mother Nature, Ski Legends are having events. For more information contact Lina Difelice
Stay tuned for additional groups forming in the future, and make sure to sign up for our social events as well.