SUBMITTING
INFORMATION AND MATERIAL
All Probus Clubs in District 9780 are now invited to
make suitable contributions to this website through their nominated
Website Contact Person.
Ø
All suitable material
must be emailed to Bob Stafford (District 9780 Website Coordinator) at
bobstafford@ozemail.com.au
Ø
Material can be in the
form of a basic email with attached Word and/or Excel documents and/or
photos in JPEG format.
Ø
Any material received
will appear in the appropriate or relevant section of the website at
some stage of the following month.
Please take this time delay into account if you want to promote
any upcoming events.
The District Website Coordinator will preserve the
right to make a judgment on all material submitted and to edit any
material to fit in with the format and style of this website.
As indicated in the promotional
flier that was mailed out to all District 9780 Probus Clubs in May 2009,
any material that supports one or more of the objectives below will most
likely be deemed suitable.
WHAT ARE WE TRYING
TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS WEBSITE?
The major objectives are to:
Ø
Promote and enhance
the basic principles of Probus within our District.
Ø
Promote Information
Days and Annual Conferences within the District and National events.
Ø
Provide an efficient
communication channel between all Probus Clubs in the District
Ø
Facilitate effective
networking between Probus Clubs in many facets of Club Operation.
E.g.
Trips & Outings, Guest Speakers, General Activities.
Ø
Facilitate sharing of
ideas and information on a wide range of club matters.
Ø
Promote all Probus
Clubs in our District.
Ø
Promote and supplement
the Probus Centre website.
Ø
Supplement the
information and news provided in the regular publications of the Probus
Centre Magazine and the Victorian Probian, but with a special relevance
to our District.
The format and layout of this website will evolve
over a period of time according to the needs and suggestions of Clubs
and the District Committee.
Please feel free to email any suggestions to the District
Website Coordinator at any stage.
In the meantime please email
the District Website Coordinator with the name and email address of your
Club Contact Person, as well as the name of your Club.
The above map shows the extent of
District 9780.
Apologies to those Clubs whose town is not marked.
STATISTICAL
INFORMATION
The following
information and statistics were extracted from the 2008 – 2009 Directory
of Probus Clubs.
The specific information about each Club in the
Directory was supplied for this publication by the Probus Club
Secretaries about 12 months ago.
When the 2009 – 2010 Directory is printed all of the following
information will be updated.
The Directory indicates there are 152 Probus Clubs in
D9780 – 137 in
Three new Clubs were launched in April and May 2008.
They are Boort & District Probus (C), Ballarat South Probus (C)
and Belmont Central Combined Probus.
Many of the Probus Clubs in the larger provincial
cities have memberships around the 100 mark.
However, some of the older single gender Clubs are now struggling
for membership.
The 6 largest Clubs have memberships in excess of 130
and are all Combined Clubs.
In order of size they are Kerang Probus Inc. (C) (197), Terang &
District Probus Inc. (C) (145), Ballarat West Probus Inc. (C) (137),
Colac Otway Probus Inc. (C) (135), Portarlington Probus Inc. (C) (132)
and Maryborough Probus Inc. (C) (132).
There are only 10 Clubs with memberships below 50.
Most of these are in the smaller regional towns of
The following table shows details on each of the
three types of clubs:
|
TYPE OF CLUB |
NUMBER OF CLUBS |
NUMBER OF MEMBERS |
AVERAGE SIZE |
|
COMBINED |
88 |
7470 |
85 |
|
LADIES |
40 |
3462 |
87 |
|
MEN |
24 |
1777 |
74 |
|
OVERALL |
152 |
12709 |
84 |
Looking at single gender clubs as a whole there are
64 of these (42% of clubs) with a total membership of 5,239 (41% of the
overall membership) for an average size of 82.
The graph below shows the rate at which new Clubs
have been launched.
The graph shows an acceleration during the 2000’s.
This graph does not include Probus Clubs that have now wound up –
it only relates to the existing 152 Clubs.
Of the existing Clubs:
43 were launched during the 1980’s – 21 men clubs, 16
ladies clubs and only 6 combined clubs.
48 were launched during the 1990’s – 3 men clubs, 23
ladies clubs and 22 combined clubs.
61 have to date been launched during the 2000’s – 1
ladies club and 60 combined clubs.
The first combined club to be formed was Kerang
Probus Inc. (C) on the 8th May, 1984.
The last single gender club to be launched in the District was
Colac Central Ladies Inc. whose foundation date was the 4th
February, 2002. Since that
date 40 Combined Clubs have been launched.
The last men’s club to be launched was Grovedale Probus Inc. (M)
on the 11th September, 1995.
A full list of the 152 Clubs in D9780 and their date
of formation can be seen on the Networking page.
This list will be updated as Clubs provide the name and email
address of their Contact person.
WHY DO WE NEED MORE
PROBUS CLUBS?
In 2003 and 2004
Graham Bath, as the Chairman of D9780 Probus Committee at that time,
wrote two articles. Some
important points he made in those articles are as follows:
At a recent
conference on ageing in
In 1995, 16 per cent of the population was over 60 years of age. Over
the next two decades, it is estimated that this figure will rise to well
over 20 per cent. The older
generation will grow the fastest of any age group.
Women will increasingly
outnumber men.
The average life
span is now 76 years for men and 81 for women.
At 65 years of age there are 77
men to every 100 women. At 85
years of age there are 43 men to every 100 women.
Retirement becomes
half to two-thirds as long as the normal working life.
Retirement is not the end of life but the opportunity to develop new
interests, which Probus can supply.
So summarising why we need more clubs:
1.
More people are retiring early
2. The baby boomers of World War
Two are now reaching retiring age.
3. People are being retrenched
and cannot find alternative employment.
4. People are living longer.
5. Most Probus clubs are full.
The demand for Probus will continue to increase in
the next few years.
Rotary has a responsibility to meet this challenge by forming new Probus
Clubs where the need has been established.
In District 9780,
success has resulted when Rotary members get out into the community and
conduct a “proper survey’’ rather than listening to the negative
comments of a few.
The Rotary District
Probus Committee Chairman has been active in publicising Probus at
District Conferences with talks and poster displays, at District
Assemblies speaking to the club community service directors, talking to
assistant governors at District management meetings and when required to
individual Rotary Clubs.
This has changed
the attitude to Probus in District 9780.
Most Rotarians are
talking about Probus. Three out
of every four Rotary clubs in the District have formed a Probus club.
Fifteen small
country towns with a population of 1,000 to 1,500 now have a viable
Probus club.
In the larger
regional cities and retirement areas there is a continuing demand for
Probus.
The Rotary District Probus Committee suggests that
the size of clubs should be between 75 and 100 persons at which time the
club sets a ceiling and starts a waiting list which could become the
nucleus for another Probus club.