Two decades of 'good times and retirement' was celebrated last Thursday morning as the Singleton Ladies Probus Club turned twenty.
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The event was held at the Singleton Diggers Club with more than one hundred people in attendance.
"It's very exciting to see how many people are here, this has to be our biggest party yet" says current President Lois Brooker.
The Ladies Probus Club is currently the largest club in the Singleton Shire with approximately 120 members who meet monthly to discuss future outings, similar interest groups and simply to meet new people and enjoy each others company.
Lois took the reins of the morning celebrations welcoming all including guests from Rotary on Hunter, addressing the monthly bulletin and informed all about the upcoming Christmas in July event at Buttai Barn next week and an outing to the Upper Hunter in October.
Special guest Dorothy Walker made the trip from Western Australia back to Singleton to celebrate the milestone as she was one of the founders and the first Singleton Ladies Probus Club president in 1999.
Dorothy along with Maureen Scott were one day together sitting at Evening View Club when the idea of Ladies Probus came about conversation.
"I became very aware about Probus when my husband Jeff joined the Mens Probus Club when he and I both returned in 1985. He came home and told me they were headed on a boat cruise in Sydney Harbour" says Dorothy.
"Across the years, the wives of Mens Probus were invited to many dinners, dances and events which was fantastic. And then I came to think, why don't we have Ladies Probus?"
Not long after these thoughts in the year of 1999, the Singleton Ladies Probus Club formed.
The first committee came together easily with Dorothy as President, Adrienne Jackson as Vice President, Maureen Scott as Secretary, Val Smith as Treasurer, Barbra Flanagan as Travel Director and Maisie Spinks as Guest Speaker Director.
"I would like to congratulate everyone involved with the Ladies Probus Club" says Dorothy. "This means a lot to me... Keep up the fun and friendship" she humbly concluded.
The first ever Probus Ladies Club Bulletin read the executive committee, membership details and their first every travel outing planned by Barbara Flanagan to Morpeth and Maitland Jail.
Today, after twenty years Ladies Probus has seen hundreds of members join and together have traveled to numerous places including the Blue Mountains in 2009, the Bahai Temple in 2007, Tasmania 2008, Parliament house and many more.