Our speaker on June 6 will be historical non-fiction writer, Lynne Bowen, talking about the history of coal mining on Vancouver Island. For over one hundred years Scottish, English, Italian, Croatian, Chinese and Japanese miners dug the coal that lies beneath the surface of Vancouver Island from Ladysmith to Port Hardy. Generations of miners worked…
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…
‘MAiD in Nanoose, through the eyes of a practitioner’ The last time Dr. Meghan Towers made a ‘house call’ to the NW Bay Probus Club, it was October 2019. Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) was in its infancy. Five years later, Dr. Towers provided an update that transfixed the over-flow crowd of Probus members, and…
An insight into the Opioid crisis from a Treatment Center Director Dr. Vincent’s journey through medicine and eventually to his specialty can be seen as elaborate but tortuous, not too dissimilar to that of today’s drug and addiction crises. In an election year, this topic resonates soundly in all of today’s media as well as…
On September 6, 2024 we had an excellent presentation from Garreth Ashley on the importance of controlling the Canada geese population to protect our estuaries. Garreth is a wildlife Biologist who has work with the Guardians of the Estuaries on Vancouver Island for the last 9 years. Estuaries are where the river water from the uplands…
