Ladies Club Afternoon Tea 30/11/17
Category: Ladies Probus News
New Committee at Ladies Probus
Guest Speaker Tiernach Mahon, Red Cross Neighbourhood Links Manager
After welcoming members to the Annual General Meeting, President Audrey Hodge gave an update on both recent events and planned forthcoming activities.
Concluding club business for the year, she thanked the outgoing committee and members for their work and support during her term of office, before welcoming John Robson, Rotary Liason Officer, to preside over the election of officers for 2017/2018.
Under his stewardship, a new committee was elected as follows: Val Burch (President), Zoe Reid (Vice President) Audrey Hodge (Past President) Pamela McClelland, Marjorie Greening, Pauline O’Hagan, Ann Orr, Lisa Bullick, Frances Beattie and Margaret Scott.
After refreshments, members were introduced to guest speaker Tiernach Mahon, Red Cross Neighourhood Links Manager.
Tiernach’s informative talk, supported by a Powerpoint presentation and interspersed with examples of real human need situations, expanded everyone’s understanding of the tremendous scale of humanitarian work being done by this organization throughout the world.
Commencing with a short introduction to the early origins of Red Cross and its vision of a world where everyone gets the help they need in a crisis, Tiernach shared the organization’s seven fundamental principles including humanity, impartiality and neutrality and interesting information of their life changing involvement in large scale relief projects being carried out throughout the world at present.
On a local level, members were given a comprehensive overview of a wide range of services provided here in Northern Ireland.
As well as emergency response to natural disasters such as the recent flooding in the North West, members heard of extended Refugee and International Family Tracing services, ambulance support services, loan facilities, independent living support etc. and their strong supportive links with other local organisations.
Tiernach was thanked for his interesting and inspiring talk by club member May Bothwell.
Members are reminded of Omagh and District Ladies Probus Club’s Festive Afternoon Tea on 30th November at 2.30pm in the Silverbirch Hotel.
Some members of Ladies’ Club who attended the Omagh Probus Anniversary Dinner
Members of Ladies’ Club who attend the 40th Anniversary Dinner
Omagh Probus 40th Anniversary Dinner
Visit to the Hill of The O’Neill
Malawi Memories shared with Ladies Club
At a recent meeting of Omagh and District Ladies Probus, President Audrey Hodge welcomed everyone back after the summer season and updated members on previous events including the very successful All Ireland Rally and summer outings, in addition to sharing future planned activities.
The Autumn Programme started off with an enlightening and thought provoking talk given by local man Edwin Johnston who, along with five other members from First Omagh Presbyterian Church, recently visited rural Malawi.
Club Members heard of the group’s travel there and their sharp cultural shock, starting on arrival at Lilongwe airport and continuing as they travelled by minibus on increasingly poor roads to Embangweni which was to be their home for over two weeks.
Their work was based at Louden Station Mission Area, set up by Scottish missionary Donald Fraser, which consists of a hospital, primary school, secondary schools with boarding facilities, a school for the deaf, etc.
Through his extensive picture library, Mr. Johnston gave a comprehensive flavour of life there which emphasized the poverty, challenging terrain, local superstitions, primitive resources, hygiene difficulties, teenage pregnancies and early marriage etc. which impact strongly on the lives of local people. These factors, coupled with a huge population keen to access education and hospital services, highlight the many needs of this remote region of Northern Malawi.
Amazingly, local school class sizes range from 100 to 150 children being taught, often outdoors, with few resources. The local hospital also struggles with limited equipment to provide a much-needed service to a population of over 100,000 people.
Probus club members were humbled to hear of the generosity of the local people as they cheerfully presented their visitors with prized personal possessions such as goats, chickens and vegetables. They also were left with the knowledge that although Omagh volunteers had given of their time and energy to get “hands on” in helping improve the environment of the local community in Embangweni, much still needs to be done in this region.
Anne McBain thanked Mr. Johnston, on behalf of the club, for his interesting and comprehensive talk.
Ladies’ Probus members visit Waste Water Treatment Plant
On Wednesday 3rd May 2017, some members of the Ladies’ Probus Club visited the Waste Water Treatment Plant outside Omagh. There, they were shown round the entire treatment process and made aware of what has to be done to ensure that we can all enjoy clean water.
Probus Ladies Summer Outing
Probus All-Ireland Rally Ennis
Probus Inter-Club Quiz
Ladies Probus took part in the Probus Inter-Club Quiz hosted by Omagh Probus Club in Omagh Golf Club on Wednesday 15 April 2015. For the third year running the Ladies No1 team won the McCrory Cup for the best Omagh team.