Peter Burns introduced our recent Guest Speaker – Mike Fogarty, President of the Wembley Downs Probus Club, who came along to give us an update about how that Club is going. The formation of the Wembley Downs Probus Club was sponsored by our very own Club, and Past President Jeremy Wood played a major role in the process. At the time Mike Fogarty and his wife Cath were looking for a joint activity that they could enjoy together, so they went along to a couple of clubs but didn’t find any joy there. However later they saw an advertisement for the start-up of a Probus Club in the City Beach area, but that too came to nothing. Some time later Mike and Cath were contacted about the possible establishment of a Probus Club in Wembley Downs, and this time the effort bore fruit! Two exploratory meetings were held, and the Wembley Downs Probus Club eventually got going. Due to ill health the intended President couldn’t fill the role, so Mike found himself in the Chair! Mike gave us a potted history of the Probus movement which originated in the United Kingdom with the development of two community-based social clubs in the 1960s. In 1965, the Campus Club was formed by the Rotary Club of Welwyn, Garden City, just north of London, and in 1966 the first Probus Club was established by the Rotary Club of Caterham. The name Probus comes from the two words ‘professional’ and ‘business’ even though it was established for social reasons. In Australia the first club was established in Sydney in 1976, and the Probus Association of WA now consists of 95 Clubs with around 5,300 members. There are Men’s, Women’s and Combined Clubs with the latter being the most popular. The objective is to provide Fun, Friendship, and Fellowship, and the Wembley Downs Club certainly achieves this. It meets on the third Thursday of the month at 10 am, and after an hour of formalities and morning tea, they usually enjoy a guest speaker for the next hour or so. There are also numerous outings to places of interest.