Probus – What is it?
A Probus club is a local association of retired and semi-retired professional and business people, and others who have had some measure of responsibility in any field of worthy endeavour, who are of character and are respected in their communities. Clubs meet regularly for fellowship and an extension of their interests.
Probus is not a “senior citizen” or “lonely hearts” club.
The name is an amalgam of the abbreviation of the words professional and business. Probus is also a Latin word meaning honest or virtuous, from which the English word “probity” is derived.
Each Probus club is autonomous. There is no central organisation, and each club sets its own rules.
A BRIEF HISTORY
The Probus Club movement was formed in the United Kingdom in 1965. The Probus movement had its beginnings in two clubs, both created by members of Rotary Club:
1) In 1965, Fred Carnill, a member of the Welwyn Garden City Rotary Club, met other retired friends for morning coffee, mostly ex-commuters to London with professional and business backgrounds. From this, he started a luncheon club. The Rotary Club president arranged the first meeting and 45 men attended. This club was known as ‘The Campus Club’, the name deriving from the fact that the meeting place was facing the centre of town, ‘The Campus’.
The Rotary District took up the scheme with the result that Rotary International, Britain and Ireland published a leaflet about the idea to encourage other Rotary Clubs to sponsor a similar club.
2) The Probus club was conceived by three businessmen travelling to London by train. The three, James Raper, Harold Blanchard and Edward Mockett OBE (died 1978) were reaching the point of retirement and realized they had a need for fellowship. Thus in the same time period, September 1965 Harold Blanchard the chairman of Caterham Rotary Club Vocational Service Committee by now retired from business presented the idea to the Rotary Club.
The members of the Rotary Club Vocational Service Committee decided to organise a monthly lunch. In February 1966, a meeting was advertised for all retired professional and businessmen aged 60 and over. 42 men turned up. A monthly lunch was arranged, at which the Rotary Club President took the chair until the Club had formed its own rules and committee. The inaugural luncheon of the first Probus Club in the United Kingdom (by that name) was on the 2 March 1966.
In May 1966 a Committee was formed with Harold Blanchard as chairman, who is seen as one of the ‘Father Figures’ of Probus along with James Raper. The name “Probus” was suggested by a member who took the first three letters from ‘PROfessional and BUSiness’. It had the advantage that it was a Latin word from which ‘probity’ is derived. The Probus Club of Caterham was met with success, and became known among other Rotary Clubs with new clubs being founded.
In 1974, Probus expanded into New Zealand and by 1976 the idea had spread to Australia. The first Probus club for seniors in North America was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Galt in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada in 1987. Currently in Canada there are 250+ clubs with more than 36,500 members.
Although Probus membership has its greatest concentrations in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, clubs today exist in many parts of the world, including the United States, Belgium, India, South Africa and several other countries in Africa and Asia.
WHAT IS THE ROTARY PROBUS CONNECTION?
Probus is one of Rotary’s greatest success stories. Since formation in 1974 in New Zealand and 1976 in Australia, Probus Clubs have continued to provide social activities and fellowship to those members of our community who are either semi or fully retired. There are many synergies common to both Probus and Rotary. Each organisation plays a vital role in the communities they serve and the strength of our success results from the partnership of Rotary and Probus working together.
Rotary and Probus are intrinsically linked, both possessing the ability to contribute to the growth of these two vital community service activities.
Probus Clubs are proud to be Rotary’s greatest community service activity for seniors.