The Combined Probus Club of Murray District (Inc.) Western Australia

Murray Magpie

May 2015

President: Adri Weggen 9537 7708

Vice-President: Jenny Armstrong 95377359

Past President: Ann Bevis 95377419

Secretary: Shirley Boyd 9537 7066

Treasurer: Roger Lloyd 9537 6175

Membership Gaye Lloyd 9537 6175

& Welfare: Programs: Ann Bevis 95377419

Activities: Fran Snabel 95377461

Interclub Liaisons

& Publicity: Christine Norman 9537 6543

Assets: Ernie Hogan 95311732

Historian: Tom Hoffman 9537 6526

Behind the Scenes VIPs

Newsletter Editor: Jan Bishop bishette42@gmail.com

Refreshments: Janice Rinaldi, Elaine Aylmore

Club email address: murrayprobus1999@gmail.com Website: http://murrayprobus.net

The May General Meeting was held at the

Ravenswood Hotel on Tuesday 12th

May 2015.

There were 44 members present

Minutes of this meeting and a copy of the financial report

have been circulated to all members.

Please remember the club now has an email address which will be used by

the Secretary from now on. murrayprobus1999@gmail.com

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The June General meeting will be held at the Ravenswood Hotel on

Tuesday 9th June 2015

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

To the following members on the occasion of their birthdays

Jillian Brown Marie Paterson Vickie Green

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PAWA EVENTS FOR YOUR 2015 PROBUS DIARY

Event Venue Date

AGM 2015 Lake Karrinyup Country Club ($35) 30th Mar

Inform Day South Metro RAAFA Estate Bull Creek ($25) 29th April

South West Inform Day Bunbury Lighthouse Resort ($25) 14th May

New Presidents Lunch St Ives—Murdoch 12th June

Membership Development Forum TBA July

Past Presidents Lunch Metro TBA August

General Meeting TBA September

Have A Go Day Burswood 11th November

South West Get Together Mandurah 17th November

Up and Coming Guest Speakers

June Greg Ker from Perth Zoo

July Peter Kennedy "Premiers I have known"

Aug Arthritis Foundation (hopefully)

Sept Commodore Bob Trotter RAN (Ret) Search and Discovery of HMAS Sydney

Oct Dr Sheila Twine topic unknown as yet

Nov David Smeeton Life & Times of a BBC correspondent

That's it so far; December will be an extended fellowship.

Medical News

Statins for almost everybody aged 66 to75. Nearly everybody aged 66 to 75 should consider

taking cholesterol lowering medications called statins to reduce their risk of heart attack.

All men and almost all women in the age group should be on the medication, even if their

cholesterol levels are normal, according to the guidelines which are based on a study

published in JAMAICA Internal Medicine, a journal of the American Medical Association.

The research follows controversial 2013 recommendations by the American College of

Cardiology and the American Heart Association, which called for more adults without heart

disease to take medication to prevent future health problems.The guidelines "are a significant

change from prior guidelines that relied heavily on levels of bad cholesterol to determine who

to treat", says lead author Dr Michael Miedema, a Cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart

Institute. The new guidelines recommend statins, such as Lipitor, for healthy adults whose

risk of heart attack or stroke is more than 7.5% over the next ten years. "Older individuals

will likely cross the 7.5% threshold based on age alone, even if they have normal cholesterol

levels and no other cardiovascular risk factors," Dr Miedema says. The study, which involved

more than 6,000 Americans aged 66 to 90, did not provide a recommendation for people older

than 75, who accounted for more than half of the study group. "We don't have great data on

the efficancy of statin medications in the elderly so the guidelines drew a cut-off for the

recommendations at age 75," says Dr Miedema, emphasising that research is needed for the

age group.

So what do we make of all this? Statins have side effects that preclude their use for everyone.

The best advice is to discuss your particular concern with your General Medical Practitioner . Article supplied by John Dickson

# # # # # A Suggested Read from Lance Woodhead

“Don’t Buy Your Retirement Home without Me”

One Hundred Years Ago

Pressure Ice after Blizzard “The Endurance”

Sir Ernest ShackletonTrans-Antartic Expedition 1914-1917

In 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole, followed by Scott

who died on the return journey. In 1914, Shackleton made his third trip to the Antarctic with

the ship 'Endurance', planning to cross Antarctica via the South Pole. Early in 1915,

'Endurance' became trapped in the ice, and ten months later sank. Shackleton's crew had

already abandoned the ship to live on the floating ice. In April 1916, they set off in three

small boats, eventually reaching Elephant Island. Taking five crew members, Shackleton

went to find help. In a small boat, the six men spent 16 days crossing 1,300 km of ocean to

reach South Georgia and then trekked across the island to a whaling station. The remaining

men from the 'Endurance' were rescued in August 1916. Not one member of the expedition

died. 'South', Shackleton's account of the 'Endurance' expedition, was published in 1919.

Hope all the Mums had a great mother’s Day

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Coming Events for your diary

May

There is to be a cocktail/mocktail day at Sandy’s (20 Fenians Pass, South Yunderup) on

Thursday the 28th

May from 2.00pm.

Please bring either an alcohol or non-alcohol bottle

to make your favorite Cocktail and a plate of pickies to share.

July Christmas in July will be held on the 22

nd July in Dwellingup at the Mill House

Restaurant. There will be a 3 course meal. The Cost $35.00 per head Names as soon as Possible and Payment to Fran at the July Meeting

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Will we ever see this again?

August 1917

A Place in History. For May

Birthday - Founder of the Russian empire Peter the Great (1672-1725) was born near Moscow. He vastly increased the

power of the Russian monarchy and turned his backward country into a major power in the Western world. Among his

accomplishments, he completely overhauled the government and the Greek Orthodox Church as well as the military system and tax structure. He built St. Petersburg, established printing presses and published translations of foreign books,

modernized the calendar, simplified the Russian alphabet and introduced Arabic numerals. He died at age 52 and was

succeeded by his wife Catherine.

Birthday - William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) was born at Hayes, Kent, England. Following in his father's footsteps, he

became British prime minister at age 24 and served from 1783 to 1801 and again from 1804 to 1806. Pitt was influenced by

Adam Smith's economic theories and reduced Britain's large national debt brought on by the American Revolution.

Birthday - Legendary Wild West figure Wild Bill Hickok (1837-1876) was born in Troy Grove, Illinois. He was a

frontiersman, lawman, legendary marksman, army scout and gambler. On August 2, 1876, he was shot dead during a poker game by a drunk in the Number Ten saloon in Deadwood, in the Dakota Territory. In his hand he held a pair of eights and a

pair of aces which became known as the 'dead man's hand.'

Birthday - Actor, singer Al Jolson (1886-1950) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia (as Asa Yoelson). One of the premier

American vaudeville entertainers of his day, he appeared in the first motion picture with full sound, The Jazz Singer, in

1927.

Birthday - Interpretive dancer Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) was born in San Francisco. She revolutionized the entire

concept of dance by developing a free-form style and rebelled against tradition, performing barefoot in a loose fitting tunic.

She experienced worldwide acclaim as well as personal tragedy. Her two children drowned, her marriage failed, and she met a bizarre death in 1927 when a scarf she was wearing caught in the wheel of the open car in which she was riding, strangling

her.

Birthday - Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) was born in Dorking, England. Considered one of the most influential actors of the

20th Century, he was honoured with nine Academy Award nominations, three Oscars, five Emmy awards, and a host of other awards. His repertoire included most of the major Shakespearean roles, and films such as The Entertainer, Rebecca,

Pride and Prejudice, The Boys from Brazil, Marathon Man and Wuthering Heights. He was knighted in 1947 and made a

peer of the throne in 1970.

May 21, 1881 - The American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton. The organization today provides volunteer disaster relief in the U.S. and abroad. Community services include collecting and distributing donated

May 20, 1932 - Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She departed Newfoundland, Canada,

at 7 p.m. and landed near Londonderry, Ireland, completing a 2,026-mile flight in about 13 hours. Five years later, along

with her navigator Fred Noonan, she disappeared while trying to fly her twin-engine plane around the equator.

May 17, 1792 - Two dozen merchants and brokers established the New York Stock Exchange. In good weather they

operated under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. In bad weather they moved inside to a coffeehouse to conduct business.

Birthday - German physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) was born in Danzig, Germany. He introduced the use of

mercury in thermometers and greatly improved their accuracy. His name is now attached to one of the major temperature measurement scales.

May 14, 1796 - Smallpox vaccine was developed by Dr. Edward Jenner, a physician in rural England. He coined the term

vaccination for the new procedure of injecting a milder form of the disease into healthy persons resulting in immunity.

Within 18 months, 12,000 persons in England had been vaccinated and the number of smallpox deaths dropped by two-

thirds.

Birthday - British nurse and public health activist Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was born in Florence, Italy. She

volunteered to aid British troops in Turkey where she improved hospital sanitary conditions and greatly reduced the death

rate for wounded and sick soldiers. She received worldwide acclaim for her unselfish devotion to nursing, contributed to the development of modern nursing procedures, and emphasized the dignity of nursing as a profession for women. blood, and

teaching health and safety classes.

May 12, 1937 - George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, following the abdication of his brother, Edward

VIII. King George reigned until his death in 1952. He was succeeded by his daughter Elizabeth, the current reigning

monarch.

May 6, 1937 - The German airship Hindenburg burst into flames at 7:20 p.m. as it neared the mooring mast at Lakehurst,

New Jersey, following a trans-Atlantic voyage. Thirty six of the 97 passengers and crew were killed. The inferno was caught

on film and also witnessed by a commentator who broke down amid the emotional impact and exclaimed, "Oh, the

humanity!" The accident effectively ended commercial airship traffic.

May 5, 1893 - The Wall Street Crash of 1893 began as stock prices fell dramatically. By the end of the year, 600 banks closed and several big railroads were in receivership. Another 15,000 businesses went bankrupt amid 20 percent

unemployment. It was the worst economic crisis in U.S. history up to that time.

May 1st - Observed as May Day, a holiday and spring festival since ancient times, also observed in socialist countries as a

workers' holiday or Labor Day.

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Letters from 1952

Slacks: Most Women have not got Hollywood figures and should not display themselves

in slacks. From the rear they look like the stern view of a coal barge.

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Q. Could you tell me the first town/village which had Street lighting?

A. “The Village of Menlo Park” New Jersey USA where Edison carried out his

experiments with electric lighting

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Receipt for the Month Affogato

Ice Cream of your choice. Expresso Coffee

Shot of your favorite Liqueur, (optional) eg. Frangelica, Baileys, Glayva

Toppings. Whipped cream, Chopped Nuts, Chocolate Sauce

(Any or all optional)

Place generous scoops of Ice Cream in a glass, serve on the side a shot of

Expresso and a shot of Liqueur, when ready to eat, pour over the Ice Cream.

Serve with Biscotti

Enjoy # # # # # # # # #

Wife says to her husband you're always pushing me around and talking

behind my back. He says what do you expect? You're in a wheelchair.

# # # # # # # # When I was in the pub I heard a couple of boozers saying that they

wouldn't feel safe on an aircraft if they knew the pilot was a woman. What a pair of sexists. I mean, it's not as if she'd have to reverse!

# # # # # # # # The wife has been missing a week now. Police said to prepare for the

worst. So I have been to the charity shop to get all her clothes back.