Essendon Probus Club
Mr CARROLL (Niddrie—Minister for Public Transport, Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (12:36): On Tuesday, 12 April, I had the great honour of attending the 40th anniversary lunch of the Essendon Probus Club at the Northern Golf Club in Glenroy, where I had the honour of speaking but also acknowledging their new president, Mr Ray Saunders. Ray has been a longstanding family friend of ours, and particularly of my father, for several and indeed many decades. There were many highlights of the occasion, particularly seeing so many familiar faces amongst the 60-member-plus crowd. One of the big highlights though was Bob Chalmers from the Essendon Historical Society giving the background on the Essendon Probus Club, which was originally a men’s club established in 1982 but rightfully merged with the women’s club in 2017 and has a longstanding history as one of the first professional clubs in Victoria. There were people like Ray and his wife, Bev; former president John Guegan; John Polglaze, the secretary; Gary Hassett and his wife, Maureen, as treasurer; outing officer Ron McFarlane; and memberships officer Ian Herbert; as well as so many other faces and locals in the crowd, including James and Beverly Penna from Airport West. I also want to acknowledge Paul Burdett, the president of Essendon North Rotary, who was there as a sponsor. They did an outstanding job of welcoming Ray as the president. I do note coming out of the pandemic that Probus does play an important part in the lives of many retirees, and I wish them all very well under Ray’s leadership.