As parents, grandparents and citizens, we share the often stated concerns about the value and direction of higher education. Our guest speaker of July 4 brings background and experience on this subject that is important to and often immediate in our own families. Professor Kirk McDermid is a Canadian who has taught in the halls…
Who: Northwest Bay Probus membersWhat: Golf, picnic, 50/50, music, schmoozingWhen: Wednesday, August 6thWhere: Brigadoon Golf Course, 359 Martindale Road, ParksvilleCost: Dinner $40 | BYOB ~ Golf $25 Time: Menu: To register for the Picnic: Signup sheets will be available at the club meeting on July 4th. Alternately, refer to the July e-news for sign-up…
What do you get when you put a bunch of seniors in a concert hall with 60 very talented, young musicians and a mallet? You get a wonderful rendition of Gustav Mahler’s Sixth Symphony and I am not kidding about the mallet. It was used on a couple of occasions during the performance when a “big…
Lynne Bowen is a much-published author of historical non-fiction. On June 6, 2025, she shared her longstanding passion for the history of coal mining on Vancouver Island. For over 100 years, coal mining was the most important industry on Vancouver Island. While it made one man, a Scot named James Dunsmuir very rich, it was…
Many are not aware of a hidden gem nestled in a bay, a short drive north of Nanoose. I am talking about the VIU Marine Field Station at Deep Bay, visited by twenty of us on May 14, 2025. We were welcomed by a small group of passionate researchers who, amongst other things, strive to…
The Truffle Farm – Guided Tour, Workshop and Tasting Event On a beautiful May late afternoon our group of eight visited the Truffle Farm in Parksville (next door toMorningstar Farm) to learn about truffles, the fungi that could be considered as “Caviar of the Earth.”Upon arriving at the Truffle Barn, we were met by Pete…
The road to trumping Trump: On May 2, 2025, our Probus Club was treated to a powerful and fact-filled presentation titled Canadian Prosperity and the Great Regression: Trump, Tariffs and the World Economy. Our speakers were Professor Mark Williams, and student Anna Toderas who in the fall starts graduate school at Yale University. Their ‘tag-team’…
Our Speaker at the April meeting was Don Dempson who spoke to us about the logistics of overseeing the television coverage of the Calgary Stampede. He has up to 70 people working on the television coverage which is timed to the seconds. His role has been to coordinate with Stampede staff and outside broadcast groups…
Our Guest Speaker on March 7 was Gary O’Brien who spoke to us about Scams and Frauds in our communities. Gary served as a regular member of the RCMP for 32 years and he is currently the RCMP Media Relations Officer for the Nanaimo detachment. Gary’s talk was highly interactive with the audience where some…
On February 12, 82 guests attended this sold-out event at Pacific Moon Rising Bar and Grill. Congratulations to our event planners Pat Scholz, Judy Karlson and Lynn Grose, and to their beautiful Probus models, Ann Barnes, Louise Allard and Christine MacDonald-Clarkson for modeling spring sportswear and evening fashions (see them modeling in the slideshow below).…
Dr. Chris Canny took us all on an illuminating crash course on how our eyes work, starting with the basic anatomy of the eye, comparing it to the structure of a house. To make sure that we got the concepts, he asked us “Can a person be legally blind yet have a visual acuity of…
