Probus Lakefield is celebrating 15 years in the community this year. To celebrate this achievement, the group awarded their founding members with lifetime memberships last week.
According to Ann Turner-Murphy, one of the founding members in Lakefield, Probus was originally started by Rotary as a way of keeping retired Rotarians active and engaged.
Probus is an international organization which aims to provide fellowship, friendship and fun for men and women in their retirement and semi-retirement years.
According to their website, they are a volunteer-based, non-profit, non-political, non-sectarian fellowship organization with over 4,000 clubs worldwide, 248 being Canadian clubs made up of over 36,500 members. Their clubs are about encouraging healthy minds and bodies and socializing with other retirees in the community.
“When you retire you wonder what you will do with your time,” Turner-Murphy said.
“These dedicated people who founded this club wanted to reach out to Lakefield giving retired people an opportunity to stay active and engaged in their own home town.”
Probus Lakefield got its start 15 years ago after George Mosier, a Lakefield resident and member of the Peterborough Probus Club had a vision of starting a club in Lakefield, closer to home.
Turner-Murphy said years ago many of the members of Peterborough Probus Club were from Lakefield and surrounding area.
Mosier then started up Lakefield Probus which was sponsored by the Peterborough club.
For the past 15 years, Probus Lakefield has been hosting meetings for their members in the Village.
The club currently sits at about 85 members, gathering each month to discuss a variety of interesting, informative topics, with a time for coffee/tea and a chat with other Probus members.
At their monthly meeting last week, Probus Lakefield honoured 13 of their remaining founding members with a lifetime membership.
Founding members of the club include: George Mosier, Charlotte Oldham, Keith Oldham, John Good, Marjorie Bardwell, Barbara Hennesey, Robin Hennesey, Charles Murphy, Ann Turner-Murphy, Gail Corbett, Bill Corbett, Elsie Scriver and Gordon Pilkey.
After the lifetime memberships where presented to these members, there was time for cupcakes, tea and coffee.
Probus Lakefield meets every month on the third Wednesday in the Lakefield Legion Hall, located at 10 Nicholls Street, Lakefield.
