40 NEW PROBUS CLUBS IN FOUR YEARS

by Graham Bath
Past President
Rotary and Probus clubs of Ocean Grove, Vic.
Chairman, District 9780 Probus Committee

Forty new Probus clubs in the four years since 2000! District 9780 will reach this target by June, 2004.

The District will then have 135 Probus clubs with almost 12,000 members.
This outstanding achievement demonstrates how a Rotary District can develop a most successful community service program for the increasing number of retirees.
This article describes the history of Probus in District 9780 and the techniques used by the District Probus Committee.

Following the introduction of Probus to Australia in 1976, the first Probus club in District 9780 was formed in 1982 in Geelong, Vic.

For 18 years, an average of five new clubs were formed annually, but toward the end of the 1990s there was a noticeable decline in the formation of new clubs. A similar trend appeared in most Districts throughout the ANZO region.

In 1997 and 1998 there was only one Rotarian on the District 9780 Probus Committee.
The District Management Committee gave preference to “more deserving projects” such as hunger or health and humanity rather than providing fellowship for the retired members of the community.

The average Rotarian knew little about Probus. Some considered ample Probus clubs existed to provide for the demand.

The role of a Rotary District Probus chairman is to co-ordinate and encourage Rotary clubs within the District to survey the need for additional Probus clubs and assist with their formation.

District 9780 covers western Victoria including Geelong and Ballarat and the south-east of South Australia.

This large area cannot be adequately serviced by one committee member, so in 1999 the District committee was expanded to three members, in 2002 to six members, and 2003 to eight members.

Each year the District committee prepares a list of towns and the suburbs of Geelong, where it considers there is potential for a new Probus club.

The information is gained from several sources, but mainly from the committee members general knowledge of his local area.

Having prepared a list of towns to target each year, the next objective is to set an annual goal for the formation of new clubs.

In the first year 1999/2000, the expanded committee decided on a goal of five new clubs which was the average number formed in the District during the previous 18 years.

This was achieved, so the goal was doubled to 10 clubs a year and we formed 13, seven, eight and 12 new clubs. Goals were set higher than the District had been achieving but at a realistic level that could be obtained by the committee if the members worked hard.

At the same time over the past five years, the Rotary District Probus Committee chairman has been active in publicising Probus at District Conferences with talks and poster displays, at District Assemblies speaking to the club community service directors, talking to assistant governors at District management meetings and when required to individual Rotary clubs.

This program has changed the attitude to Probus in District 9780.

Most Rotarians are talking about Probus. Three out of every four Rotary clubs in the District have formed a Probus club.

Fifteen small country towns with a population of 1,000 to 1,500 now have a viable Probus club.

In the larger regional cities and retirement areas there is a continuing demand for Probus.

The Rotary District Probus Committee suggests that the size of clubs should be between 75 and 100 persons at which time the club sets a ceiling and starts a waiting list which could become the nucleus for another Probus club.
This article has been written in the hope that other districts in the ANZO region may like to apply some of the techniques used in District 9780 to provide sufficient new Probus clubs to meet the need in our communities.