A word with our new Chairman David Simpson

It is an amazing honour and responsibility to be elected the next Chairman of the Board of Probus South Pacific Limited. I take over from Margaret Drake who has, in her dignified thoughtful way, been a tower of strength.

It is humbling to look back at the ability and service of the past board chairmen.

Probus has been very fortunate to have such quality board members. At the August 2020 Annual General Meeting we farewelled Ian Murray OAM and Nick Ledingham and of course Past Chairman Douglas Geekie who retired after seven invaluable years on the board. We also welcomed Bill Killinger and Graeme Brown to the Board.

The major initiative at the start of my year is Probus Day on the 1st of October. This was the brainchild of Vice Chairman Judith Maestracci AM and has been ably formulated and promoted by the staff of PSPL. It is gratifying that so many Clubs are having special functions to celebrate the day. I believe that it will grow from strength to strength over the years and the publicity will help the community gain a realisation of the amazing benefit our organisation is to the retired community.

It has always worried me that when I talk about Probus in the general community I am sometimes met with blank looks. Hopefully this will be a thing of the past.

In a lot of Clubs we have wonderful friendship and fun but it is important that we also concentrate on gaining new members otherwise we all grow old together and find it harder to interest newer retirees and get new committees. Make your programs and outings interesting and fun and involve newer members.

Local membership representatives are actively seeking locations for new Clubs. In South Australia the major initiative on Probus Day was to open a new Probus Club at North Haven. The interest meeting was very successful with 60 attendees and 38 signing up on the spot. Let us hope we can replicate this success and form more new Clubs in areas lacking Probus friendship.

This year has been a time of disruption with some Clubs still unable to meet. Make sure you keep in touch with members so we can grow strongly out of the pandemic. It has also been a time of disruption at PSPL with changes to Travel Insurance, Magazine advertising and staff levels. I congratulate the Management and staff for their dedication to overcome these obstacles.

As I move around Clubs I am always impressed with the talent and quality of members of the Club committees. We have over 1,700 Clubs and so we have about 15,000 committee members ensuring the success of their Club. Brilliant work. It emphasises the knowledge, experience and wisdom of our retired community. Make committee meetings fun to help encourage newer members to become involved.

The festive season is nearly upon us and I would like to extend my best wishes to Probians and their families for Christmas and the new year.

Please help us make the next year one of fun and friendship and grow our wonderful organisation as we move on from the challenges of the year 2020.

David Simpson Chairman | Probus South Pacific Ltd