Month: April 2025

OMAGH PROBUS CLUB

On Tuesday 8th April 2025 the Club ended its Spring Programme with a visit to Omagh Methodist as guests of the church Bowling Club. Ten members accepted the invitation to try their hand at indoor bowls played on a green carpet. They were warmly welcomed by Club Captain, Desmond Preston, who briefly explained the rudiments of a game and its place in the life of the church and the wider community. Some members of the bowling club were on hand to assist those who had never ever played and encourage those who had played before but not for many years. No competition was involved beyond the efforts of each player to improve on his previous attempt to miss the stick, keep their bowl on the mat and avoid the ditch. Occasionally the jack was reached and “touchers” celebrated in the belief that skill rather than luck had steered the bowl.

After 90 minutes of fun and frustration club president, Felim O’Neill, warmly thanked the Methodist Bowling Club for their hospitality and patience in recovering stray bowls and relacing scattered sticks. Club members then repaired to Sally’s Restaurant for lunch where the conviviality continued. The club then embarked on a two-week Easter Break, prior to resuming on Wednesday 30th April.

Visit to Strathroy Dairies, 

On Wednesday 2nd April the Men’s and Ladies Probus Clubs joined forces for a visit to Strathroy Dairies in Omagh. Members were there at the invitation of Club member, Mr Eamon Cunningham whose family have owned and managed the business for three generations. On arrival visitors numbering some 30 persons, were divided into four groups each one being given a conducted tour by a senior member of the management team. The tour included the delivery of milk to the dairy from the farms, pasteurisation, bottling and dispatch. It appeared to those visiting that the only part of the process not mechanised is that of tasting and testing samples of milk from each tanker as it arrives in the yard, this crucial task being performed in the laboratory by two young women.

Elsewhere in the factory all were impressed by the speed at which plastic containers were formed, filled, sealed, labelled and made ready for dispatch. A comparatively recent development in Strathroy has been the production of dried milk which is bagged and shipped all over the world. At every stage in the process, be it in the production of semi-skimmed milk or double cream, attention to detail and hygiene was evident. All questions were willingly answered, and members of the tour party were impressed by every facet of the production. The tour ended in the company hospitality suite with refreshments and warm words of thanks to our hosts for their generosity and welcome.