Welcome

Welcome to the Hanover Area Probus Club!

We invite you to explore our new website!

We are a vibrant community of retired people who come together to enjoy enriching activities, engaging social events, and lifelong learning opportunities. Our club is dedicated to fostering fellowship, fun, and personal growth among our members.

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Are you interested in participating in group activities and events, hearing interesting guest speakers, or simply making new friends? There’s something for everyone at the Hanover Area Probus Club.

We encourage you to consider becoming a member. Click BECOME A MEMBER now to find out how and start enjoying what our club has to offer.

We look forward to welcoming you in person!

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Mark Your Calendar

Our March Speaker is R.J. Taylor

Springhill was given the Business Innovator Environmental Award for the humane harvesting of fish.

They started over 35 years ago when Jim and Lynette Taylor bought an old fly-fishing club. They had a big dream of building their own fish farm in Grey County. Although it took eight years of permits, they opened Cedar Crest Trout Farm in 1995 in Allan Park (just outside Hanover).

In the 2010s, the Taylors added three more land-based fish farms to meet the growing demands for sustainable fish. At the time, the business was focused on hatching young rainbow trout for sale to floating farms in northern Ontario to grow-out.

One of these newly acquired farms had a small processing plant and smokehouse, and it was called Springhills. It gave the Taylors all the ingredients they needed to expand into filleting and offering more fish.

By 2018, Springhills became the first land-based farms in central Canada to get certified by the Best Aquaculture Practices program. This held their team to the highest international standard for environmental impact, fish welfare, and social responsibility. Shortly after they were recommended by Ocean Wise too.

The Springhills family was hit hard by cancelled orders during the first weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic. So their entire team started filleting fish and asking people on Facebook if they’d want a box.

Soon so many requests came flooding in and they quickly outgrew our plant and built another much bigger one. They branched out with more types of fish, and even found other farmers and fishers for more variety.

In less than a year, they were delivering local fish to more than 1,500 homes every month nearly across the province. They launched into most grocery retailers big and small. And expanded with smoked fish and other fishy products.

Our February Speaker was Dan Herrick, Executive Director of Grey Bruce Makers

We are a not-for-profit community workspace serving Grey and Bruce counties. A makerspace is also known as maker labs, innovation centres and incubators.

In 2017 Grey County purchased the Sydenham Elementary School as a Community Hub to stimulate economic development in Grey. The County Economic Development department received a Federal Development Grant for high tech equipment to start a "community innovation fabrication lab", a space where community members, entrepreneurs and others could create and build on their unique thoughts and projects. We officially opened our doors on July 1st 2024 after years of preparation and planning.

We now have other business support programs in place within the Sydenham campus, including the Business Enterprise Centre and The Henry Burnick Entrepreneurship centre. These help with educational programming and micro funding for existing businesses and for new businesses just starting out.

What do our members do at the makerspace? They create! We have furniture makers, metalworkers, crafters, painters and more. They each bring a unique perspective and skills to the makerspace. They share and grow. Often you see retired folks working with young students learning about 3D printing, or machinists trying their hand at woodworking. They experiment, they fail – it is a gathering place. We hold meetups of various types.

My purpose is to grow Grey Bruce Makers until it can become self-sustaining. What does that mean? Grow to 100 members. Host at least 3 courses or programs in each of our workshops and areas within the makerspace. Collaborate with regional groups to facilitate training and entrepreneurship opportunities for our community.

Here is the link to find out what kind of classes are being offered: https://greybrucemakers.ca/calendar

A Message from Your President

Janice is away somewhere enjoying the sunshine and warmth!

But she shared this update from Probus Canada

Podcast - their very own podcast is now available on Spotify. Go to https://probuscanada.ca, scroll down to the footer, and click on the green Spotify icon.

Facebook - keep up to date on news from Probus clubs in Canada: https://www.facebook.com/probuscanada/

YouTube - check out their two new videos that were developed this year: https://www.youtube.com/@PROBUS-Canada

Newsletter - check out the latest issues of the PROBUS Canada Connections at: https://www.probuscanada.ca/news.

The New Probus Website has been launched!

A BIG “Thank you” to member Craig Brown for his IT knowledge, expertise, leadership, and many hours of volunteer time working with Nico Masse (from Esite Creations) and the Website Committee Members (Loretta Dunn, Janice Koehler and Dianne Mather) to develop our club's new website.

The Committee invites all members to visit the new website at www.hapc.ca/activitieslist to access all the full details and information for the 19 club activities. Or if you need assistance or have any question contact Dianne Mather, Activity Group Chair at act@hapc.ca

Click on 4 options

A) “Activity Guideline & Procedures”

B) “Click to see Calendar view” for each month. Click on the date to view

information on the “Activity” or Activity “Event”

C) “More Info” (blue box on right side of screen) for each activity information

D) Go to Home Page (right side of the screen) see “Mark Your Calendar” which displays dates

of upcoming Activities and Events. Click on the date to view full details.

March Probus Activity Updates

Dinner Club

The Koehlers and Peckhams met up at Cathy and Sally's house for an Italian-themed dinner. The menu was fantastic and thoughtful as it was based on Cathy's heritage. It was as follows: Italian Salad (pictured above); Meat or Ricotta/Spinach Ravioli and Pannacotta

Coordinator: Karen Farrow

Eat for Health

Due to winter storm on February 18^th the “Bean Theme Potluck Event” was cancelled. Members were planning to bring their homemade recipes including: Lentil Dip Salad, Chickpea Curry with Spinach, Kidney Bean Pineapple Salad, Apple Sweet Potato Hummus, Black B Brownies, Bean Burgers and Bean Salad. Stay tuned as this scrumptious potluck which may include some further “surprise recipes” is planned to take place at the April Meeting.

Coordinators: Kathy Greensides and Robin Hill

Pot Luck

The group met on January 20^th (pictured below) and enjoyed a delicious lunch consisting of old family recipes. We had lots of laughs reminiscing about childhood meals. The next Potluck will be on Monday March 17^th at the Hope Church in Hanover.

Coordinator: Marybelle Schumacher

Scotch Tasting

On March 17^th members of the Probus Scotch tasting group will gather to salute the Patron Saint of Ireland. We will be sampling 3 of Irelands best spirits paired with food designed to enhance the experience.

1^st pairing: Writer’s Tears Copper Pot with Irish Soda Bread and creamy Irish cheese

2^nd pairing: Red Breast 12-year-old single pot with mini potatoes and caramelized salmon.

3^rd pairing: Irish Mist honey liqueur with Sticky Toffee Pudding.

There is only one spot available for this event. If you are interested, please contact Bob Farrow

Coordinators: Bob Farrow and Garry MacGregor

Snowshoe

On February 6^th members thoroughly enjoyed a trek through the Durham Conservation Area. On February 20^th members enjoyed lots of snow, the scenery and silence of the winter forest at Brant Tract (1300 Concession Rd 12 Brockton). This trail offers lots of trail variation options which can be taken for members wanting something shorter. This winter snow conditions are ideal for members to get out together and enjoy the many trail options in the Grey Bruce area. The group meets every Thursday morning “snow conditions and weather permitting” to enjoy a new challenge.

Coordinator: Vern Freer

Travel Mtg

“Adventure in Toronto (2days) Wed Jun 25 & Thurs 26, 2025”

Joan Roseborough has organized and arranged this trip with the staff at Great Canadian Holidays & Coaches. On Feb 5^th an e-mail with full details of this 2 day trip was sent to all Probus members. Includes: Luxury Motor Coach Transportation- 1 Night Accommodation at Chelsea Hotel-Visit to St. Lawrence Market-Guided tour of Bata Shoe Company-Toronto Sightseeing Cruise with commentary-Admission to Ripley’s Aquarium-Lunch at Hothouse Restaurant(gratuity included)-Admission to Little Canada-Services of a Tour Director-HST-Pick-up Hanover Tim Horton’s (by Food Basics)

For more information or to make a reservation contact Great Canadian Holidays & Coaches 519-896-8687 Ext. 280-Deadline to book is May 9^th, 2025-Single $825/Twin $645. A minimum of 30 people is required in order to run this trip.

Next travel meeting is Wednesday March 26^th at the Red House Eatery Restaurant in Hanover. Plans are to present information for two short trips options in Fall 2025 “Agawa Canyon” and “Fall Colours in the Eastern Townships” and for Feb 2026 “Costa Rica-A World of Nature” a small group exploration of no more than 24 passengers.

Committee: Dianne Mather, Joan Roseborough, Peter Dalton, Margaret Elliot Niesen

Wine Taste

At the “Comfort Food” Wine Tasting event on Feb 24^th at the Hanover Curling Dan did a great job explaining that this event was done differently than other tasting events. First, Helen chose “comfort foods” of Mac & Cheese, Chicken Pot Pie (in soup form), Hearty Stew and Gingerbread cookies. Next, Dan chose “comfort wines” that are easily available even at our local grocery stores that paired nicely with the selected foods. A second twist was choosing two wines of the same type from the same winery but with a different price point. Everyone learned a few things and had a lot of laughs. Thank you to all those that attended and made this wine tasting a fun event.

Next we are planning “Austrian Adventure Wine Tasting” on Thursday April 24 at the Hanover Curling Club at 1:00pm. Micki Bruschke has enjoyed many good wines on his trips to Austria and will share them with the group. Austria makes a lot of fine wines however they don’t export a lot of them. Thanks to their hard work and efforts Micki and the Hanover LCBO manager have procured some great Austrian wines for us to enjoy. Roger Donald will do research into Austrian wines and will join us and share what he has learned.

Committee: Frances Agnew, Micki Bruschke, Dan Hobler, Helen Peppler