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St Kilda Beach Probus Club's Vision

St Kilda Beach Probus is an active, engaged membership driven group of retired and semi retired, who come together to enjoy a range of fun and enriching social activities and outings. The Club aims to enhance its members” experiences and interests whilst enjoying the fellowship of an expanding, diverse network of friends.

Vice-President's Message from John

Time flies when you’re having fun! Not sure about you, but for me, time just flies. Spring has definitely sprung; it's already October, and daylight savings is here again.

The Christmas party will soon be upon us in December (see separate article), and before you know it, Christmas, New Year and we’ll be into 2027.

It’s also time to start thinking about our AGM early next year and whether you can assist on the Committee. A couple of committee members are stepping down at the AGM, so we will be looking for some more people to step up to help run the club.

I’m sorry to say Mary has stood down effective immediately, due to extensive travel plans, from the Committee, so we are looking for a new Secretary, primarily to monitor the mail which is not onerous. An email a month regarding snail mail at our letterbox and the occasional email from PSPL (Probus South Pacific headquarters). If you have some time to assist and monitor the emails, that would be greatly appreciated. For now, one of our other committee members takes the minutes for our committee meetings. Please see me or one of our committee members if you are interested or have any questions.

We thank Mary for her commitment and dedication since Day 1 back in August 2025 when she joined the club. Her assistance with the monthly meetings and ensuring morning tea was ready to go as members arrived, and stepping up to assist me with the Secretary role was greatly appreciated. She will be missed on the committee.

Our numbers continue to grow, and it would be a shame if we don’t have enough committee members to help run the club.

Anyway, another busy couple of months of activities are coming up, so I hope to see you out and about, especially during Seniors Month this October, and at our October meeting, where I’m looking forward to hearing from Leon from the St Kilda Football Club.

Stay dry and warm.

Membership Corner

Our membership continues to grow with 3 new members in September. A big Probus welcome to:

Nicolette Rego and Beverley Roberts and Michelle Wilkinson

Please look for them at our meetings and activities and say hello.

Happy birthday in October to Anne W, Carmel, Maggie, Mary and Peter!!!

We celebrated achieving 45 members with an amazing 45 member cake from Mary, our caterer extraordinaire.

Diane, Memberships

Save the Date - Our 2026 Club Christmas Function

We are proposing to hold a Pétanque/BBQ lunch (with basic salad items and nibbles) at the Bowlo on Wednesday 9 December from 11am to 2pm at a cost of $15 per person. Drinks can be paid personally at the bar. If members want to bring additional salads and desserts, that would be greatly appreciated. Further details to be provided at the next club meeting.

Movie Club - Come and join us at the cinema!

Join our active movie group where we enjoy new releases, film festivals, special events and more. Often followed by a drink and/or meal to discuss the film we’ve just seen and what we’d like to see next.

In the last few months, we’ve enjoyed a diverse range of movies including Michael, The Drama, The Magic Faraway Tree, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Project Hail Mary at IMAX and Mistura, part of the Spanish Film Festival.

Our movie trips aren’t included in our monthly Activities programme outlined in our newsletter and website as they can be often planned at short notice so to be involved you need to join our WhatsApp movie group. All you need to do is have Whatsapp and ask Gail, our movie aficionado, to add you to the Probus Movie Club group or email skbprobusactivities@gmail.com and ask to join the movie club. You can then suggest films you’d like to see and find like-minded buddies and also join outings to films suggested by others.

Many of the movies we see are at the Classic Cinema in Elsternwick or other cinemas easily accessible by public transport so you don’t need a car and are often daytime week day sessions so we avoid the crowds. The Classic offers seniors/concessions discounted tickets on a Tuesday which we try to take advantage of. Other cinemas also have discounted days for seniors.

We look forward to seeing you at the movies!

Roundup September 2026

Book Group

The Book Group looked at Comedy, laugh out loud, and found that books which used to be laugh out loud aren't necessarily as funny anymore. Is it that our sense of humour has changed or is that the books have dated? A number of books were discussed, of which Ghost Cities, the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2025 Winner, by Siang Lu was most highly recommended.

(Diane)

Coffee Club at Sorsi & Morsi

Six of us caught up for coffee at this wonderful cafe on the corner of Barkly and Blessington. We sat inside but there’s a lovely terrace under the trees outside as well. Highly recommend a coffee, a drink, a lunch or dinner in this great space. Too busy chatting to take a pic! I hope to see you at our next location Ms Felix St Kilda on Marine Parade.

(Sharon)

Kelly Brennan at September monthly meeting

Kelly is a passionate advocate for Albert Park Lake and the birds, wildlife and vegetation that call it home. She gave us a wonderful presentation that talked through: the history of Albert Park Lake, including the proposal for a tramline through the park (thankfully abandoned!); the users of the park with 7.8M visits per year, 40 clubs, 16 sports plus of course, the Grand

Prix and how she and LAKE! Alive members are working to protect the ongoing maintenance and health of the lake and the wildlife that depend on it. If you would like to get involved or simply stay informed, please join their Facebook group LAKE! Alive.

.

(Sharon)

Walk around Albert Park Lake

A few of us followed up the wonderful talk by Kelly Brennan about Albert Park Lake with a walk around the lake and got to see the very cute swan cygnets, ducklings and lots of ibis. Carmel hosted some great walks and we would like to bring them back if there’s interest. Albert Park Lake is a great walk right on our doorstep.

(Sharon)

Happy Hour at Uncle Nora's

Two days before our happy hour event, I learned that Uncle Nora’s had changed its opening time to 5pm on the day we planned to go (thanks to social media). Luckily, Sam (one of the owners) kindly offered to open early to accommodate our booking for which I am very grateful. All’s good that ends well and indeed we all had a great time. Nora (the other owner after which the bar is named) dropped by and had a chat – very lovely lady. A couple of the ladies met Kevin the huge teddy bear in the corner. Uncle Nora’s is becoming one of my favourite waterholes.

Happy hour is now 5-7pm Monday to Thursday, 3-5 on Fridays, and from 12-4pm on weekends. There are a couple of steps up from the footpath to the bar, but there is also seati

ng outside.

(John)

Channel 7 - House of Wellness Studio Audience

For many of us, being part of a live studio audience was a first—and what a fascinating experience it turned out to be. At Channel 7’s Southbank studios, we were given a crash course in audience participation, learning how to amplify our reactions so 25 people sounded more like 100. With encouragement to laugh at even the smallest joke, we quickly settled into the rhythm of a live recording.

Shane Crawford and Melissa Doyle were warm, relaxed and effortlessly funny as they guided the show through its various segments. We heard from actors David Berry

, Bert LaBonte and Roger Corser about their upcoming roles in the 2027 stage production of The Shawshrank Redemption and some of the realities of life as an actor.

Uncle Lionel Lauche, a First Nations healer, offered a captivating demonstration of Yidaki (an ancient wood instrument) healing and spoke about his traditional knowledge of the healing properties of native plants. Paralympian and world champion Hani Watson shared her inspiring story of living with chronic pain while achieving remarkable success in powerlifting.

The morning concluded with a beautiful musical performance of ‘When I met you’ by Darren Middleton, the much‑loved lead guitarist of Powderfinger fame, now enjoying a solo career as a musician and photographer.

(Leigh)

Australian Jewish Museum Tour

Despite the rain on arrivals, 3 of us enjoyed our tour of the Jewish Museum and Synagogue.

Our guide, Leonora, was quick to respond to the many queries asked of her. Her people had embraced life in Australia as you can see in the photos.

(Anne)

5 Minutes of Fame

The Port Phillip Community Group is conducting a special event on Tuesday 24 November at the St Kilda Town Hall. Click here to see more info.

Fun St Kilda Fact - October 2026 - St Kilda Lighthouse

Did you know there are two “lighthouses” in St Kilda?

The St Kilda Lighthouse, also known as the St Kilda Harbour Light, is a historic lighthouse located at the end of St Kilda Pier. The lighthouse was constructed in 1883 and is a cylindrical structure made of cast iron, standing at a height of 11 meters. It was designed to be a relatively simple and functional structure, with a distinctive red and white striped pattern. The lighthouse is still operational today, although it is now automated and no longer requires a lighthouse keeper.

numberanalytics.com/blog/st-kilda-pier-historic-landmarks

St Kilda Marina "Lighthouse" is located at the end of the St. Kilda Marina breakwater, built when the purpose-built marina was constructed in the period 1966 to 1970. While from even up close it looks very much like a tapered octagonal, white-painted concrete tower lighthouse, in fact, it's made of a steel frame and a fibreglass body. It's approximately 18 metres tall and was never intended to function as a "real" lighthouse but still it's useful to small boats as a visual daymark, and being floodlit, it illuminates the surrounding area until midnight.

Facebook/lighthousesofaustralia

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land, the people of the Kulin Nations. We pay our respect to their Elders, past and present. We acknowledge and uphold their continuing relationship to this land.