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CARP offers many benefits to aging but active retirees to aging but active retirees
John Maguerian, president of the Niagara Chapter of CARP or the Canadian Association of Retired Persons was our speaker this month. He advised that that CARP, which he suggested should stand for Canadian Association of Rejuvenated Persons, got its start in1984, being modeled after the AARP in the United States,
Boer War in South Africa was Canada’s first foreign conflict
In keeping with the Remembrance theme of the November meeting, guest speaker Kathleen Powell spoke about Canada’s role in the Boer War of 1899-1902 which was Canada’s first foreign war.
Kathleen is the Curator at the St. Catharines Museum and supervisor of historical services.
Our guest speaker this month was author Cheryl Cooper who talked about her writing background and some of the fascinating information she has uncovered while researching her books in a presentation titled: “1812: The Age of Sail”. Cheryl, who was born in Toronto and now lives in Bracebridge, said that she was drawn to writing as early as Grade 4 and at age 11 was encouraged by a teacher who printed a novella Cheryl had written and made it available in the school library.
Morningstar Mill history dates back to the 1800’s
Carla Mackie and Allan Veale presented an interesting history of the Morningstar Mill and the Morningstar family. The Morningstar Mill is a rural industrial heritage site owned by the City of St. Catharines and operated in partnership with the Friends of Morningstar Mill. The site features a working grist mill built in 1872 and the home of the Morningstar family.
Our speaker this month was Adrian Petry, the visitor services coordinator at the St. Catharines Museum, who spoke about Lost and Historic Architecture in St. Catharines.
Adrian started off by giving plugs for a couple special events including guided canal walks and also guided spirit walks at Victoria Lawn Cemetery. These historical and theatrical walks tell the story of people and places who have disappeared from the city’s landscape.
Speaker offers look inside world of medical cannabis
Guest speaker Michelle Davis, a community engagement specialist with Tweed, Canada’s largest producer of cannabis headquartered in Smiths Falls spoke to us this month on this topic.
Michelle said that Tweed, which was licensed by Health Canada in 2014 to grow medical cannabis, has many grow sites across Canada including in Niagara-on-the-Lake and also several service sites called Tweed Main Street,
Pets at Peace provides services for pets and owners
Julie Proulx, a graduate of Nipissing University with a BA in Psychology, who later studied funeral service education at Humber College and evolved into a funeral director for pets spoke to us this month on this topic..
Julie, who at one point returned to Humber to teach the Funeral Service Education program between stints at funeral homes in St.
Welland Canal mapping project helps bring historic canals to life!
Guest speaker Colleen Beard, Map Librarian and Head, Data & GIS Library of the James Gibson Library at Brock University spoke about the Historic Welland Canals Mapping Project.
Contemporary technologies for data capture and mapping have revolutionized the way information can be collected and shared.
Young adventurer describes his journey to Amazon rain forest
Tim Kaye introduced guest speaker Owen Bjorgan, who grew up in Queenston, graduated with a BSc in Biodiversity from the University of Guelph and has turned a life-long fascination with nature into an amazing career all by the age of 25.
Owen’s presentation was titled Hidden Corners: East An-des,
Habitat for Humanity program has helped millions to better life
Sandy Rempel, the family services manager for Habitat for Humanity in Niagara, gave a brief history of Habitat for Humanity explaining that the concept of partnership housing was started by Millard and Linda Fuller in Georgia. In 1973, they took their Fund for Humanity concept to Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Respect, dignity, education key in dealing with dementia
Our guest speaker was Judith Fraser, a volunteer in public education with the Alzheimer Society of Niagara.
Judith pointed out that Dementia Friends Canada is part of an international movement with the goal of improving respect and dignity for sufferers of dementia while educating the population to dispel myths and reduce the stigma about dementia.
Young musicians face many obstacles on road to success
John Senn introduced club member Dan Plunkett (left above), who was accompanied by Steve Kostyk (right above), in speaking about the music industry and the difficulty young musicians face to trying to get their careers off the ground.
Dan,
Tim Kaye introduced David Bishop, representing the Trillium Gift of Life Network, who gave an informative talk on organ and tissue donations.The Trillium Network, Ontario’s central organ and tissue donation agency, was established at the end of 2000 by the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care. The agency’s mandate includes the coordination and planning of organ and tissue donation and transplantation,
Remembrance Day Service: The Remembrance Day Service was organized and led by Andy Redman who offered opening remarks and read “Silence in Remembrance” and the” Story of Remembrance”. Bill Smith read “Act of Remembrance”.
John Congram led us in prayer. Dennis Ray played the “Last Post” and, following two minutes of silence, John Senn read “In Flanders Field”. George Park read a list acknowledging current PROBUS members who served in the military and Dennis Ray closed by playing “Reveille”.
Our speakers this month, Lynn and Jim Miller, talked about some of the highlights of their trip to Machu Picchu, the 15th century Inca Citadel located in the mountains of Peru. He also mentioned the unnerving experience of flying into the downtown airport at Cusco located between two mountain ranges. Jim also described the amazing workmanship involved in constructing the sacred site of Machu Picchu.
Robert Fahlman’s presentation was titled “Blood Ivory: A Global Law Enforcement Response to Combating Transnational Wildlife Crime.” Fahlman, who retired as Director General of RCMP Criminal Intelligence after 35 years with the RCMP and is now president of R&D Fahlman Consulting, Inc., was chosen to prepare a report, including suggested solutions to the on-going slaughter of African elephants.
Fahlman warned that some of his presentation would prove disturbing and first off was the fact that an elephant is killed every 15 minutes.
Rabbi Gad Romang from Congregation B’nai Israel in St. Catharines spoke to us om the subject of “What it is like to be a Rabbi in today’s world”.
Rabbi Romang, who was born in Argentina, moved to Israel when he was five and has been a Rabbi for 30 years and has lived in five countries. Before coming to St.
Our guest speaker for July was Bradley Hammond, the son of club member Peter Hammond who is a Queen’s University graduate and is the senior communications manager for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. The subject of his presentation was Canada’s Plan for Used Nuclear Fuel.
Bradley described the plan, called Adaptive Phased Management and how it evolved during discussions with many Canadians and specialists to be implemented in a suitable area with a willing host and with the input of surrounding communities including First Nation and Metis.
Owl Foundation has been helping birds of prey for more than 40 years
Guest speaker Annick Gionet of The Owl Foundation in Vineland, who gave us an interesting and informative description of the work the foundation does. Its main goal is to rehabilitate injured and orphaned owls. She pointed out that founders Larry and Kay McKeever started the work in the mid-1960’s and incorporated the foundation as a charity in 1975.
Our guest speaker for May was Past President Art Currie who spoke in great detail about the Battle of Vimy Ridge and followed his presentation with a video about the 1917 battle.
Art pointed out that at the time of the First World War, Canada’s population was approximately eight million and from that number,
Arden Phair, a volunteer with the Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial Task Force. told us the story of Welland Canal’s fallen workers. The task force was established to develop and implement a strategy to finance, design, build and install a suitable memorial to recognize workers who were killed while building the Welland Ship Canal between 1914 and 1932.
The Ides of March visited St Catharines with 12 inches of snow on our scheduled March 14, 2017, regular meeting. WE HAD TO CANCEL!
Your club executive have never faced this before in all its history dating back to 1998. Much consultation between management committee members and certain past presidents took place… including with our current President, who took great glee in reminding us from California that he was having a good,
Tips to create a thriving vegetable garden
At our February monthly meeting, Bob Martin, General Manager of Martin Farms Ltd, gave a very informative, illustrated talk entitled, “The Path to a Green Friendly Garden”.
Bob, a third-generation greenhouse owner, spoke about the importance of the greenhouse industry in Niagara (the third largest in North America) and in particular the vegetable trade for the home garden (the flavour of the month as he called it).
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
Dennis Ray, a fellow Probus St. Catharines club member, delivered a presentation about his climb up to the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro with his son John in 2008.
Mt. Kilimanjaro, located in Tanzania, is Africa’s highest peak at 5,895 metres or 19,340 feet and although the altitude makes it a challenge,
Ed Kidd is the headmaster at Ridley College and spoke to us this month about the College which is celebrating 127 years in Niagara. Kidd came to Ridley five years ago, after a stint teaching at an international school in Shanghai for a number of years. Using a power point and video presentation to illustrate many aspects of student life on the Ridley campus,
Leon Evans, chief pilot for the Canadian Warplane Museum in Hamilton, Ontario presented to us this month on the flight of thier operational Lancaster bomber to the UK.
We saw a short video clip from the Rick Mercer TV show of him flying with the Lancaster Bomber over the Niagara area and then Andy Redman introduced Leon Evans who gave an excellent presentation of the Lancaster’s 2014 trip to England to take part in air shows with the only other flight-worthy Lancaster.
Niagara College teaching winery has been an amazing success story
Steve Gill from Niagara College’s teaching winery and brewing programs was our featured speaker this month. Steve gave us the history of the program from its launch in 2000 till present. Among the many highlights for the program, Steve said that half of the wine makers in Ontario now come from Niagara College;