Probus Club of Larne celebrates National Lottery funding support for activities including anniversary publication
The Probus Club of Larne is celebrating National Lottery funding support for its 2026 activities including a new book reflecting on five decades of the organisation locally.
The club comprises retired business and professional men who meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month in the Halfway House, Ballygally, to hear talks from visiting speakers before adjourning for lunch.
Members come from many different backgrounds and develop lasting friendships. Widowed and single members find the regular meetings beneficial by helping to combat social isolation. Annual outings and biennial lunches with guests, partners and the widows of deceased members are enjoyed by all.
This month the club celebrates generous support from the National Lottery Community Fund. Notably, this will help with the publication and launch of ‘1974-2024 Celebrating 50 Years of the Probus Club of Larne’. Drawn from the club minutes so diligently recorded, the book is a chronicle of the membership and activities since its inception with support and encouragement from the Rotary Club of Larne over 50 years ago. It will include photographs of outings and places of interest in the town.
A launch event is planned at Larne Museum & Arts Centre on the evening of Thursday, April 23. Members and invited guests will hear from the committee members who researched and compiled the book.
The club plans to publicise its activities within the “pensioner community” with an invitation to ‘come and try’. Having surveyed the IT skills of its members, the club will include some training this year to stimulate interest and encourage greater use.
Probus is a non-sectarian and non-political association of retired and semi-retired people who join together in autonomous clubs throughout Britain, Ireland and the rest of the world. The purpose is to provide regular gatherings of persons who, in retirement, appreciate and value opportunities to meet others in similar circumstances and of a similar level of interest.
The Larne Club aims to stimulate camaraderie, thought, interest and participation in activities at a time when, for some people, horizons are narrowing and opportunities to make new friends may be limited. It has a custom of supporting local charities and values its enduring relationship with the Rotary Club of Larne.
A member said recently: “Probus is an excellent way to make new friends and enjoy the Third Age.”