The Twin Lakes Probus Club is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month and is looking to double its membership in 2025.
“It’s going to be a big celebration,” said Sherry Lenssen, president of the social club for retirees and those who are semi-retired.
An anniversary party was held earlier this week at ODAS Park. Ten charter members were celebrated. The celebration will continue at a later date at the Christmas anniversary dinner at Bogey’s at the Couchiching Golf and Country Club in Orillia.
“It’s all for fun and camaraderie because once you retire, you think, ‘What am I going to do now?” Lenssen said.
The club organizes bus outings, dinner outings, and guest speakers. The club meets the fourth Thursday of every month at ODAS Park from 10 a.m. to noon.
“I’ve met a lot of interesting people,” said Lenssen, who is also a member of the Lake Country Probus Club.
Guest speakers in 2024 included Elaine Charal, a certified handwriting analyst, who provided a written analysis of everyone’s handwriting.
“Everyone loved her. She was so entertaining and witty,” said Lenssen.
Another guest speaker was author Lori Oschefski, who runs Home Children Canada about the British children immigration scheme to Canada that resulted in many kids suffering abuse.
Paul Savage, an Olympic silver medallist and world champion curler, and Susan Dixon, an equine therapist who runs Partnering Horses with Humans, were also guest speakers.
“We’ve had such good comments about the speakers,” she said.
Lenssen joined the club after going as a guest and loving a speaker, who worked for the Canadian and United States governments at the South Pole. He explained how they lived and kept their equipment running in the extreme cold.
“I thought, ‘I really like this,’” said the retired OPP civilian, who worked in anti-rackets and fraud.
Outings this year included bus trips to horse racing at Georgian Downs in Innisfil, a Blue Jays game in Toronto and a Jersey Boys performance at King’s Wharf Theatre in Penetanguishene.
“Everyone has so much fun,” said Lenssen.
Since Lenssen because president this year, she updated the archives and records of the club. She and a partner are building the club’s first website, which will go live in January. For 2025, Lenssen endeavours to build membership.
Before COVID-19, the club had 250 members. It currently has about 100 members and is the smallest of four Probus clubs in the Orillia region.
“COVID decimated our membership. When we came back, it was mostly original members,” said Lenssen.
“We need a younger demographic to come into the club. We need new ideas and new energy.”
To bring more attention to the Twin Lakes club, Lenssen took part in the Aging Well Expo earlier this year at Lakehead University.
“I was surprised at how many people came up and said, ‘I thought the clubs were full,’” she said.
The Twin Lakes Probus Club has lots of room for growth. The Lake Country Probus Club is large, but doesn’t put a cap on its number like the Orillia Probus Club and the Probus Club of Mariposa do, she added.
The Orillia Probus Club was the first in the region, forming in 2003. It has a membership of about 200.
The Twin Lakes club was started in November 2004 and has 100 members. The Lake Country Probus Club was founded in 2010 and has about 237 members. The Probus Club of Mariposa is the fourth and youngest club in the region, founded in 2014. It has approximately 200 members.
Lenssen said she would like to expand the offerings in 2025 to include mystery tours and bring back international travel tours. Pre-COVID, the club organized trips to Australia, Africa and Ireland. Mystery tours are bus tours where people sign up but aren’t told where they are going. One tour took people to Canadian Base Borden and then Holland Marsh Wineries for wine tasting and charcuterie snacks.
“Everyone who’s gone on them loves them,” Lenssen said.
Anyone interested in joining can email Lenssen at [email protected] or attend a meeting as a guest of a member.
New members pay a one-time $35 set-up fee and get a metal name pin. Annual membership is $60. Members pay their way on outings but are provided with a group discount rate.
Probus clubs are all over the world.
More information about Probus Canada can be found at probuscanada.ca.
