EDPCi General Meetings

Our monthly General Meetings (10:00 on the second Monday of each month, February to November, changes to the first Monday when the second Monday is a Public Holiday) are held in the Epping Presbyterian Church Hall, Rawson Street, Epping (NSW). A highlight is the Guest Speaker. From February 2022, the Guest Speaker will present immediately after Morning Tea. Formal business (reports et cetera) will precede the Morning Tea. Attendees can gather at the Hall from about 08:45 for a chat; the Meeting finshes about 12:00. Here is a link to the Morning Tea Roster!

Membership is by invitation and prospective members should contact the Secretary prior to attending a meeting. Correspondence to the club should be address to the Secretary at P.O. Box 855, Epping, NSW 1710.

Note: General Meetings were suspended from April to September 2020 inclusive due to government health guidelines related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Guest Speaker activity recommenced using ZOOM video technology in August 2020, and General Meetings via ZOOM in October 2020; both reverted to LIVE meetings in February 2021.

Epping and District Probus Club Inc.'s Annual General Meeting is held following the conclusion of the Club's March General Meeting: Committee positions are declared vacant and election of a new committee takes place.

In December, a Christmas Lunch replaces the normal General Meeting.

Our 2020-22 schedule includes:

• Monday 3 July 2023,  10:00 — a week earlier than usual due to Hall usage: Guest Speaker: Barry Pareezer was our guest speaker this month: his topics were “The collision between HMAS Voyager and HMAS Melbourne” and “How to write your life story”.
• Monday 5 June 2023,  10:00 — a week earlier than usual due to Public Holidays: Guest Speaker: local historian Rod Best spoke of "Historic events in Pennant Hills in 1905-06”, about the existence of Chinese Market Gardens in Beecroft in the 1800s and early 1900s, and the background of Sir Leslie Joseph Hooker, born on 18 August 1903 at Canterbury to the unmarried Ellen Tingyou.
• Monday 8 May 2023,  10:00 — Guest Speaker: Mike Monro AM talked about “The Last Bushrangers”; however, the talk could well have been titled “This is Your Life” or “The Black Sheep of my Family”. Mike began by telling us in great detail his childhood and the difficulties he faced due to the behaviour of both his parents...
• Monday 3 April 2023,  10:00 — a week earlier than usual due to Easter Holidays: Guest Speaker: Arthur Pearce from the Australian National Maritime Museum: his topic was “RAAF Catalinas in WW2”.
• Monday 13 March 2023,  10:00 — our Annual General Meeting: no Guest Speaker. In lieu of a Guest Speaker it was planned to give a demonstration of the Defibrillator, a knowledge we all need to know but hopefully will never need to use.
• Monday 13 February 2023  10:00 — Guest Speaker: Michelle Sharkey OAM –  “Stroke—Awareness, Treatment and Recovery”: Michelle give a very comprehensive overview of Stroke and related issues and distibuted handy brochures, et cetera, which in later months proved very useful to some of our members.
• Monday 14 November 2022 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker James Rutherford spoke on “The History of Cobb & Co.”
• Monday 10 October 2022 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker: Les Fenech from the Parramatta & District Historical Society: “The History of Telecommunications (in Australia)”, from the Telegraph, to the Radio era, undersea Cables, Cable stations, local Radio transmission stations to satellites and the delivery of images from the moon landing
• Monday 12 September 2022 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker: retired NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney – Ken spoke of his family background and his career in the Police Force, and outlined his involvement in community activities in retirement.
• Monday 8 August 2022 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker: Tom Ware – a short story and a talk on “An Incident in Dubbo Airspace” - Tom is always entertaining speaker and his story is about an aircraft that gets into trouble near Dubbo, NSW, because of bad weather: it comes from his own experiences as a radio operator out at Dubbo in 1961–62.
• Monday 4 July 2022 , 10:00 — again a week earlier than usual: due to School Holidays: Guest Speaker: Noel Phelan - topic: "The Halvorsen Story", about the immigrant family that showed extraordinary commitment to boat building and excellent craftsmanship and boat design skills.
• Monday 6 June 2022 , 10:00 — a week earlier than usual due to the Queen's Bitrthday Public Holiday: Guest Speaker: Andrew Biviano - topic: "Estate Planning", highlighting some intergenerational financial planning considerations paying particular attention to those times when there is often significant change—at retirement, when care needs change, and when a loved one passes away.
• Monday 9 May 2022 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker: Graham Sims JP - "Funny Dunnies", recounting amusing often inconvenient stories of this basic convenience. 
  Graham has had a 40+ year career in education, as teacher, consultant, Chief of Public Relations, Principal, Inspector of Schools, and Director of Education. He specialised in Languages, teaching French, German, Indonesian, Malay, and English, both in Australia and overseas.
• Monday 11 April 2022 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker: Alice Kang, Director Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway - "The Kokoda Walk and Concord Repatriation Hospital". Preceeded by General Business and Morning Tea.
• Monday 14 March 2022 , 10:00 — Annual General Meeting.
  The General Meeting will follow at the conclusion of the A.G.M.: Guest Speaker: Hazelyn Dillon - "My Life in the Business World", recounting amusing stories from her career in analytical laboratories especially in Plastics.
  
• Monday 14 February 2022 , 10:00 — our Guest Speaker was to be Les Fenech whose topic was "Australia’s Communications Links with the World".
  Unfortunately Les was unable to be present, however two of our own members, Michael Brinsden (President) and Leo Hart stepped up to give well-delivered and interesting impromptu recounts of (from Michael) business dealings in China in the1970s and (from Leo) life growing up on a farm near Junee, NSW.
• December 2021 — no General Meeting scheduled: we ar having a Christmas Luncheon on Tuesday 7 December instead.  :-)
• Monday 08 November 2021 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker Derek Jones: topic "Greece: some personal reminisces" {our scheduled guest speaker, Tom Ware, was unable to be present due to an injury: we look forward to his presentation in 2022]. Derek Jones, one of our Club members, gave a fascinating talk of his years spent in Greece and doing business in the eastern Mediterranean, including a trick situation when summoned by Saddam Hussein.
• Monday 11 October 2021 , 10:00 [via ZOOM] — Guest Speaker Noel Phelan: presented a great talk about the "Costa Concordia", the ship that rolled over off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany; Noel has been a volunteer guide at Sydney's Maritime Museum for several years and is also the team leader for the museum speakers and well used to presenting via ZOOM. Thank you Noel.
• July - August - September 2021  — no General Meetings held due to COVID-19 helth restrictions.
• Monday 07 June 2021 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker Beth Matthews: topic "Female Convicts in Australia".
• Monday 10 May 2021 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker David Rosenberg: topic "Pine Gap - the Inside Story".
• Monday 12 April 2021 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker Lt.Col. Andrew Lam: his topic will be "A Modern Day ANZAC", followed by Anzac Ceremony.
• Monday 8 March 2021 , 10:00 — Guest Speaker John Donohoe: his topic will be "[Australian] Bushrangers of the 1860s and 1870s". At the conclusion of the meeting, the A.G.M. will be held and a new Management Committee elected for 2021-22. We still need to follow the current government COVID-19 health guidelines.
• Monday 8 Febuary 2021 [Live!!!] — with Guest Speaker Rafaele Joudry, who talked on "Sound Therapy for Tinnitus".
• Monday 9 November 2020 [via ZOOM] — Guest Speaker Ken Fletcher continued his rellections on his trips across Australia, "Nullarbor Surprises" [part 2].
• Monday 12 October 2020 [via ZOOM] in our first "virtual" 'General Meeting', Guest Speaker Ken Fletcher reflects on several trips he and his wife made across Australia on (and off) the Eyre Highway, showing many interesting photographs in "Nullarbor Surprises" [part 1], Michael Brinsden briefly detailed a trip he made from Perth to Sydney in a Valiant Charger, and Brian Haywood and Doug Carruthers added reflections of their own. A video recording of Ken's talk is available on-line (161 Mb; 1hr 5min).
• Monday 14 September 2020 [via ZOOM]: in lieu of a General Meeting, Bill Thomson talks of "Fire, Fumes and Healthy Home Heating", of the causes of indoor air pollution from home heating and the impact on human health, supported by slides and video. A video recording of Bill's talk is available on-line (141 Mb; 1hr 4min; passcode Cw13O^C%).
• Monday 10 August 2020 [via ZOOM]: in lieu of a General Meeting, Ross Beattie gives a talk titled "the HAPI Isles", briefly describing the history, natural and human, of the Solomon Islands, and events leading to World War 2's Battle of Savo Island (1) ["The Battle of the Sitting Ducks"] on 9 August 1942, and later events in that area. The Solomon Islands now face several social, health and geopolitical issues, and the massive threat of human-driven climate change. Ross uses many photographs, maps and slides in his presentation, which now includes several minutes of graphic video. A video recording of Ross' presentation is available on-line (156 Mb; 53 min).
• General Meetings were suspended from April to September 2020 inclusive due to government health guidelines related to the SARS-COV-2 pandemic