A new option for local retirees and semi-retirees in Windsor-Essex to meet new people and stay active. The Windsor-Essex Probus Club has officially launched and is inviting people to attend one monthly meeting for free between September and November to see if the club is right for them. Probus is a non-profit, non-political and non-sectarian organization focused on fellowship, friendship and fun. The club currently has about 50 members, nearly double the number it started with in May when the club launched. Members can take part in monthly meetings, social events and interest groups, including an art workshops, book clubs, walking groups and photography groups. The Windsor-Essex chapter is part of a larger Probus network with more than 36,000 members across about 250 clubs in Canada. Jane Shreeve, President of the Windsor-Essex Probus Club, says the organization is designed to help people build new friendships after retirement. “Probus is a social club. The goal is to bring semi-retired and retired people together to help them find potentially a new group of friends because sometimes when you retire, you lose that friendship base to provide activities as well as monthly meetings where we do have speakers.” She says the club is also meant to create smaller social circles among members. “It’s trying to form that base where you say, ‘hey, I’ve met five people and we’re going to play cards this week and we really like each other, so we’re going to do it every week’. It’s just based on that group, once it gets started, they can base it on how often they want to meet and where they want to meet.” Shreeve says there was demand for a local chapter. “There are people that are moving here because they’re retiring. It’s a great place to come when you’re retiring, but this is an outlet to find friends, and there is nothing further west than London. So if you go to London, the GTA, and east of there, that is where the bulk of Ontario clubs are.” The club meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 10 a.m. at the Banwell Community Church Outreach Centre. Upcoming speakers include local author and retired CBC broadcaster Herb Colling in September, Windsor International Film Festival executive director Vincent Georgie in October, and Canadian Mental Health Association educator Sonia McMahon-Comartin in November. Annual membership is $50.
