Greetings club members and a special welcome back to our snowbirds.

There are several items of club business I would like to share with you:

*First a big thank you to Ivor Barlow who has overseen the construction of our new web site from day one.

*And now that we have a web site, which has such great potential for the club, we will need a web master to keep it going. One of our younger members would be ideal for taking on this job which essentially only involves keeping the web site up-to-date once a month. Ivor and I would be pleased to hear from any of you.

*As mentioned at our last meeting we are reviewing potential monthly meeting sites as one step to control rising costs and thus keep membership fees from rising too drastically.

*And finally our 2012/13 nominating committee will soon be in action trying to find members to fill various jobs on the management committee. None of these jobs is very onerous. The club needs your expertise and a glance at our bio book shows we have lots of that on our roster.

See you on April 19. . . . Dave

In February the club decided to vote for Ted Nixon of Probus North Oakville as national board director for District 3. So far there has been no indication from National on the results of the election. On another matter members were urged to fill up the front pews rather than spread loosely all over the church.

Our profiler was Lionel Latter. Born and brought up in Toronto, Lionel began his business career with various jobs but soon found his niche in cardboard box packaging. He worked mainly with Ontario’s agriculture industry where, when he started, packaging was done by hand. Lionel took us through subsequent developments, which involved mechanisation and immense improvements to productivity. He illustrated how this was done by using cardboard box props, probably the first time a profiler has ever brought along descriptive material.

Our main speaker was Paul Rowan, a financial advisor from Dundee Wealth, 700 Kerr St suite 210. Paul’s message hinged around income taxes which can significantly reduce investment returns. To avoid some of the tax impact he discussed spousal trusts, income splitting, deductions available but often not used, floating shares and life insurance.

In March we had clarification on our liability insurance. It appears to cover anything related to our club activities no matter where they occur. And it was also good to see members bunching up more in the front pews – thanks! Our profiler was once again Lionel Latter who gave us a part two of his life’s journey through the packaging industry all again well illustrated by cardboard box props and slides on the screen.

Our main speaker was Sunita Pereira, a hearing aid counsellor from the Canadian Hearing Society. Some of the things that stood out in her talk were: She found out that a large majority of our members have hearing aids but a large number don’t wear them regularly. When in the hearing aid market get quotes, there can be a big price difference. They can magnify sound but don’t fix the clarity problem. The provincial government supplies a good part of the cost. They are best at 6 to 8 feet. At question period there was an avalanche of questions, clearly the subject was on many members’ minds.

Helmut Erxleben reports this month on Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, Robert K. Massie’s latest book. Remembering his Nicholas and Alexandra, which I read some 40 years ago, I knew this biography would be fun to read. It is the true story (based mainly on her diaries and letters) of one of the greatest female monarchs in western history. It begins when she, an aristocratic German 14 year old, travels to Russia to marry the teenage heir to the Russian throne, the future Tsar Peter III. The early years were extremely difficult for her, but it’s her admirable strength of character (notwithstanding her many lovers), her ability to adapt to an unfriendly environment, and her exceptional intellect which allows her to persevere, ascend to the throne, and subsequently transform a backward Russia into a modern state. As the reviewer in USA TODAY quipped: “Even bone-deep anti-monarchists will find themselves cheering on this absolute despot”. I know I did”.

Harold Erlendson, our movie critic, reports on Descendants: “This movie and George Clooney, its star, were both nominated for Academy Awards and came close to winning. Clooney plays Matt a workaholic Hawaiian lawyer. He learns that his wife has had a boating accident and is in a coma. Then he learns that his wife has been cheating on him. Now he must become a parent to his two troubled daughters. His eldest daughter is especially angry and knew about the infidelity. There is a second story going on. Matt who is descended from Hawaiian royalty controls the family trust that owns a vast tract of valuable land on Kauai. All of the relatives want to sell but Matt has the final say on whether to preserve the heritage or sell to developers. You will both laugh and cry as Matt and his girls cope with the tragedy. A good movie.”

Harold also reports on The Artist. “This film won an Oscar for the best picture of the year and four more in other categories. On the surface it would appear to be an unlikely choice. It is a silent movie with printed dialogue, 2D black and white photography, actors who are almost unknown, with no seamy sex scenes, wild car chases or explosions. As well, the story has been done before: A Star is Born, Sunset Boulevard, Singing in the Rain. The story takes place in 1927 when the Talkies turned Hollywood upside down. A matinee idol cannot adapt to the change and his career and fortunes crumble while new stars are born. It is a movie of innocence and joy in a similar time. This is a movie which everyone will enjoy. As an added attraction, it stars a terrier who should have won an Oscar.”

Eric Mahony has moved to Post Inn Village. He would love to have Probus club visitors . .  Wib Erwin had an unfortunate accident while curling in late February. He suffered a stress fracture of his hip which meant no operation but bed  rest at the hospital. At time of writing he is still there recuperating. The accident was doubly unfortunate because Wib had just celebrated his 90th birthday . . . Welcome back to travelling members: Bill Tyre from Australia. Unfortunately he was unable to connect with our brother club, Grandviews, in Sydney. . . . Ivor Barlow, from his adventure-filled trip across Africa from north to south. . . . Frank Petrie from a cruise in the Caribbean where it is reliably reported his remarkable gambling luck paid off again. . . .  Dave Patterson back from his “research” in Mexico . . . Ken Lewis from Hawaii . . . and Mike Pallant from a cruise through the Panama Canal (see below).

Members are invited to offer brief write-ups on good movies, shows, restaurants or trips that they have enjoyed.

Mike Pallant reports: “Many things impressed us during our recent cruise through the Panama Canal not least the mules – not the four legged type.These mules are diesel engine tractors which run along rail tracks on either side of the Canal.Four mules accompanied our ship, Cunard’s Queen Victoria, situated port and starboard at the bow and port and starboard at the stern. Each mule is connected by hawser to the vessel passing through the Canal and the Panamanian pilot can slacken or tighten each hawser by instruction from the bridge. Thus, the entering ship is perfectly centred within the Canal which was just as well in our case since we only had a 10”clearance either side.”

THE COSTA CONCORDIA WRECK

The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship in January stirred up a great deal of interest world wide and especially in those planning cruises. Jerry Reid has spotted a web site that gives an insider look at how the accident occurred. It’s well worth looking at. Here is the web site:< http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2011-2012/thewreckofthecostaconcordia/johnkonrad.html>