September 2024

Our September Speaker is Tom Douglas

Tom Douglas, recipient of The Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation for his work over the years chronicling Canada’s military heritage through his books, newspaper and magazine articles, and public speaking engagements, is the author of a number of published works about Canadians who participated in various military campaigns, including the First World War, World War Two, Korea, and Afghanistan. Most of his books are Canadian bestsellers and have won several awards.

As Communications Advisor to The Late Honourable Bennett Campbell, Minister of Veterans Affairs, Tom travelled with the Minister and contingents of veterans on pilgrimages to battle sites in France, Holland, Italy and Korea. After accompanying nineteen World War One veterans to Vimy Ridge during one of his many visits to France, he and the group were invited to be special guests of French President François Mitterrand at a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Arch of Triumph in Paris.

He and his wife Gail, also a published author, toured the Western Front in France and Belgium and produced a website called World War One: Rising From The Ashes. He and his son James, as guests of the Netherlands Board of Tourism, filmed a documentary about the close ties between Canada and Holland, entitled The Tulip and the Maple Leaf.

Tom has served in an editorial capacity with a number of magazines, including Copy Editor of The Canadian Military Journal, Associate Editor of The Maritime Engineering Journal (Royal Canadian Navy) and Coordinating Editor of the LEMS Journal, a publication produced by the Corps of the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

He has ghostwritten the memoirs of a Second World War RCAF Squadron Leader as well as those of a career warrant officer in the Canadian Army. He was engaged by the Department of National Defence to act as editor on a book profiling some thirty Canadian soldiers who were awarded valour medals in Afghanistan.

Duke Schiller was Tom’s great-uncle. When Duke’s daughter Barbara Jane passed away recently, her daughter, Leslie Tindall, turned over the celebrated airman’s scrapbooks, photograph albums, logbooks, personal letters and other memorabilia to Tom. These items and extensive research poring through newspaper archives, books and magazines enabled the author to tell the remarkable story of this forgotten hero of early aviation.

A Message from Your President

It has been written about many times in this column and many others how September is the unofficial start of a new year. 

With school, Probus and many other activities starting up again, how can it not be?  I’ve just concluded that it’s also the start of something else though…sourdough bread baking season! 

With the summer being as hot as it’s been this year, it’s hard to justify turning on the oven so that the poor air conditioning has to work even harder. (yes….we are fortunate to have that option) Now that the temperature is cooler outside, may the sourdough challenge re-commence!

For those of you who haven’t experienced the rollercoaster of joy and frustration of sourdough bread creation, let me give you a summary.

The first step is a well-meaning friend (should this word be in air quotes??) gives you a starter. 

It’s essentially a bubbly, flour/water blob that you have to care for.  It honestly reminds me of high

school home-ec class when you had to bring an egg home and care for it like it was a baby.  I’m going on vacation.  Who should be feeding my starter?  It’s that ridiculous!

The next step is determining when you have a day to make the bread.  Depending on who you ask,

you may have to knead it every three hours, so you’d better be available to do so!

Finally, all of the stars need to be in alignment with the mixing, kneading and rising.  If you do one of these things wrong, the bubbles might be too big, or not big enough.  I have to say, that it’s delicious either way…

but the struggle for “perfection” is real!  Maybe, I’ll be able to get it right just like the first time I tried. 

Wish me luck!  

Janice

News and reminders from your Management Committee

Membership Renewals for the 24/25 year (Sept 1 to Aug 31) are due no later than September 11, 2024.

After that, membership will be on a first come, first serve basis. The renewal fee for 24/25 is $25 and new members pay an initial fee of $20 plus the annual fee of $25. Please make cheques payable to Hanover Area Probus Club. Renewal and new membership forms are available on the HAPC website:  https://membership/  and a limited number of forms will be available at our September meeting.

You can bring your forms and payment to the September meeting or you can mail them to Alison Greenaway Coates (her address is in last year's membership list).  

Probus Global is a network of Probians from all over the world who meet quarterly on ZOOM.   If interested, you can visit https://probusglobal.org/ and follow the route to become a member at NO cost as long as you are a Probus member.  

Probus Canada would like all members to see all the news, so here is a link to their news page:  https://www.probuscanada.ca/news

Activities

Thank you to all of our Activity Chairs!

Back Row (L to R) - Kathy Greensides, Dianne Mather, Peter Dalton, Bob Farrow, Terry Koehler, Vernon Freer,
Robin Hill Front Row (L to R) Loretta Dunn, Joan Ferguson, Frances Agnew, Bev Hambly, Karen Farrow, Pat
Butler, Marybelle Schumacher, Tracey Neuman
Absent- John Brunner, Ulli Kaempfe, Ruth Linnen, Ruth Los, Nina McTeer.

After the business portion of the June 24 th General Meeting, the management committee and activity
coordinators gathered for a luncheon meeting. Each coordinator provided a brief description of their activity
and shared their success and challenges. Discussions included setting up tables at the 10 th Anniversary
Celebration Event for a "meet and greet session" with members and activity coordinators showcasing and
promoting their activities, providing hand out information sheets, and include draws for prizes.

PROBUS ACTIVITIES UPDATE

• For Full Activities Details and Information: See the Hanover Area Probus Club (HAPC) website
  Activity page.
• Or contact Activity Group Chair, Dianne Mather at act@hapc.ca

Wine Tasting

• Twenty-six are off to enjoy the Niagara Region on Thursday September 12^th.  Visiting three wineries -  Vineland Estates, Chateau des Charmes Wines, and Konzelmann Estate Winery - with lunch at the Niagara Pen Centre and supper at The Guelph Mandarin.
• Ring in 2025 will be held at the Best Western in Walkerton. We will celebrate the “New Year” at midnight Paris, France time (6:00 pm EST)
•  We will enjoy a wonderful “French” inspired dinner and wine pairing.  Further details will be sent out in September.  
• Committee: Frances Agnew, Bill Roseborough, Helen Peppler, Dan Hobler

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Hiking

• Completed 16 hikes so far this season.  It’s been amazing to see the forests come to life with spring flowers and now the fall plants are becoming more dominant.  Areas visited Malcolm Bluff Shores Nature Reserve; Kolapore Wilderness Area; Kinghurst Forest Nature Reserve; Inverhuron Provincial Park; MacGregor Point Provincial Park; Mono Cliffs Provincial Park; Georgian Bluffs; Pottawatomi Conservation Area and MacNaughton Park/Morrison Dam Conservation Area.
• Upcoming hikes tentatively planned to glimpse the ever changing fall vistas along the escarpment in September/October: Sept 5 - Silent Valley Nature Reserve; Sept 12 - Camp Oliver West Loop (Grey County Managed Forest); Sept 19 - Boyne Valley Provincial Park; Sept 26 - Bognor Marsh; Oct 3 -Bayfield (guided walk/hike); Oct 10 - Old Baldy; Oct 17 -  Nottawasaga Bluffs; Oct 24 - Bruce’s Cave/Spirit Rock Side Trail (Wiarton); Oct 31 TBD.

Hikes scheduled Thursdays to start at 10 am and there’s always room for more hikers.  Hikes predominately in Grey and Bruce counties and in surrounding counties. Average 5 km and usually just under 2 hours to complete.

Coordinator: Vernon Freer.

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Scrabble

• Group met throughout the summer as participants have been available. Hope to resume regular schedule starting September 5^th. Play every two weeks on Thursdays.
• We share the hosting for our games and are a very relaxed no pressure group. We use cheat sheets and dictionaries and always enjoy a sweet treat and tea and coffee.
• Coordinator: Ruth Linnen

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Pole Walking

• Walk the Hanover Community or Walkerton Trails every Friday at 10 am but with everyone’s summer plans, we have not had more than 4 participants on any given day.
• Coordinator: Joan Ferguson

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Golf

• Members have played a number of courses during the past few months: Mount Forest; Scenic City Owen Sound; Walkerton; Wingham; Stone Tree Owen Sound; Northern Dunes; Southport; Mitchell; Pike Lake; Markdale, and Blackhorse in Kincardine. Unique for this season seems to be that we never had to cancel too many golf days due to rain on Tuesdays.
• Out of 55 members signed up, we have 12 to 20 active players. We always book 4 tee times expecting 16 players and adjust the number short before game days. The majority of golfers seem satisfied with mix of courses.
•  Coordinator: Ulli Kaempfe

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Travel

• Cape Code & Nantucket 2024 - 20 Members depart Sept 22 to 28 (7days) with Great Canadian Holidays to Cape Cod & Nantucket. Features sightseeing tours in Boston, Cape Code, Sandwich, Plymouth, Newport, Provincetown, Hyannis and Nantucket; includes tour of Breaker Mansion, Whydah Pirate Museum, Whaling Museum, Whale Watching Cruise and more.
• Croatia Trip 2024- Special Note to members that went this trip in May- A Collette videographer will be doing testimonials about your personal trip experience at 10:00am on Wed Sept 18^th at the Saugeen Municipal Airport (prior to the regular Travel/Theatre Meeting). Please call 519-364-3270 or E-mail cbrownell@dt.com if you are able to participate and attend.
• Upcoming Travel Meeting Wed Sept 18, 2024  at 11:00am at Saugeen Municipal Airport- Collette rep will be presenting “Canyon Country” Sept 24-Oct 1, 2025 (8days) with optional 2 days-1 Night Grand Canyon West Rim and Hover Dam Post Tour. Highlights:  Scottsdale, Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon, Rafting on Horseshoe Bend or Rainbow Bridge Tour.  20 seats have been blocked for our members on a first come first serve basis. Must book by March 12, 2025. This meeting is open to all interested Probus members. An e-mail invitation will be sent out to all Probus members early in Sept.
• “Ultimate Travel Show” by Direct Travel Hanover- Invitation to all Probus members to attend Sat Sept 28,2024 from 10:00 am-3:00 pm at P&H Centre Hanover. Discover new destinations and experiences and sit in on a presentation with many show specials and door prizes. Call Carol Brownell at 519-364-3270 ASAP to register.
• Committee: Dianne Mather, Joan Roseborough, Peter Dalton

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Theatre

• Since last October members enjoyed a variety of 7 shows including musicals, comedy and drama with tickets purchased at group discount rates. Members met for a group luncheon at a local restaurant prior to each show.
• Shows included: “Matilda, The Musical”, Hanover Civic Theatre Dec 9^th (42 attended); “Drinking Habits”, Hanover Civic Theatre May 4^th (36); “Beehive”, Drayton Festival Theatre Jun 4^th (37); “Doris & Ivy in the Home”, St. Jacobs Country Playhouse Jul 3^rd (22); “Halfway There”, Drayton Festival Theatre Jul 18^th (24); “Resort To Murder”, Blyth Memorial Hall Aug 21 (28); Onion Skins & Peach Fuzz, The Farmerettes”, Blyth Memorial Hall Sept 3 (42).
• Theatre group members will be meeting on Wed Sept 18^th, together with the travel group, to start planning theatre show outings for the next 12 months.
• There are currently 110 members on the theatre group e-mail distribution list. 
• Coordinators: Peter Dalton, Tracey Neuman

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Kayaking

• Paul Scott has indicated he would like to start a kayaking activity. He plans to get things organized for the summer 2025.

Local and Area Events

Life Long Learning Events for 2024

Bluewater Association for Lifelong Learning - Owen Sound

• Please see this link for details: https://bluewaterlearns.com/pages/lectures-2023-2024

Georgian Triangle Lifelong Learning Institute - Collingwood

• Please see this link for details: https://gtlli.ca/events/#!event-list

Third Age Barrie Lifelong Learning Association - Barrie

• Please see this link for details: https://www.thirdagebarrie.ca/

 

The Hanover Public Library will be hosting a Reading Concert like you’ve never seen before on Sept.  28th We will have 4 local celebrity musicians and authors coming to provide Hanover with music, readings and stories of growing up in Grey-Bruce. Seven time Juno Award winning musician and author Larry Mercey, one of Canada’s most beloved acoustic performers Richard Knechtel (aka Dickie Bird), Juno and CCMA award winning Jamie Warren and worldwide published John Gardiner will be coming back to Hanover. These four will be singing original songs and reading from their books in a one of a kind Reading Concert that will run from 2:30pm-4:30pm at the Hanover Civic Theatre. Following the concert these local powerhouses will be available for you to meet and will have their books and merchandise for sale. Tickets are $15 and on sale now. 

For more details on this and all Library programs: https://hanoverlibrary.ca/happening/#adult-programs

Culture Days at the Library – September 20 - October 13

Food is one of the greatest expressions of culture! Bring a recipe from your culture to share with others at this library recipe swap. Visit the library for cookbook displays to try something new! Spice it Up! - Walkerton Branch, Tuesday, September 24, 7pm Come to the library for a spicy experience! Learn how to make your own spice mix and best recipes for use. BYO measuring & mixing tools and 2 clean jars. Registration required.

For more information on this and all other upcoming Library programs and events: https://library.brucecounty.on.ca/branch/walkerton/

FBI*  (*Fix Broken Items) -  Repair Cafe    Sat, Sep 14, 11 am - 3pm   Durham Town Hall

In partnership with Earth Works and sponsored by Farlow's Home Hardware.Bring your broken lamps, your ripped seams, your chipped teapots - you get the idea. We will have fixers who can help in these categories, to start:  clothes, occasional furniture (so, portable - don't bring a couch), electrical appliances, crockery, and toys.  No charge.  We're relying on handy volunteers of all stripes (starting with some of the folks from Earth Works - thanks!) to share their knowledge and coax new life out of household items.  

For more information on this and all other upcoming Library programs and events: https://www.westgreylibrary.com/programs-events/fbi-fix-broken-items-repair-cafe

Hanover Recreation and Culture events and programs: https://www.hanover.ca/recreation-culture

Brockton Parks and Recreation Dept Programs: https://www.brockton.ca/en/be-active/Recreation-
Programs.aspx