Robert's done wonders for Probus

Robert Renshaw (below) ran Bearbrass Probus's launch meeting on February 12.

Rotary clubs, focused on holding their own membership,  don’t often set up new Probus clubs.[1] Rotary started the Probus movement in 1976 for retirees who want to make friends and keep active rather than do charity work. With the bulge of baby-boomer retirements, there’s now plenty of potential for new Probus clubs.

 A champion creator of Probus clubs is retired electrical engineer Robert Renshaw 78, of D9810’s Glen Waverley Rotary (about 60 members)  in south-east Melbourne. From 2016 to 2019 he's helped set up eight new Probus clubs.

Robert  has now additionally launched two outer-suburban clubs this year. The recent clubs were Clarinda Probus (January 23) and Keysborough Probus (February 6). Another Melbourne club, Armadale, started February 7, and March will see launch of Warrigal & District Probus (March 16) and Mornington Beach (March 26).

In the Probus fiscal year since last April, 49 news clubs have started with close to 60 targeted by end-March.

Glen Waverley Rotary, in District 9810, has a long history with Probus . In 2002 it ran an “interest meeting” for a new Probus club and got 200 applicants – so it started two Probus clubs at once. Members at the  Syndal Combined Probus and Wheelers Hill Combined Probus have since grown to  300.  

Robert straddles the Rotary and Probus worlds. He’s been 47 years in four Rotary Clubs, is District 9810’s Probus Chairman, is Syndal Probus’s current president, and was a Probus national director from 2016 to 2018. Wearing multiple hats, he helped start these D9810 Probus clubs:

Robert explains, “We scan census and suburb data looking for big groups of retirees. Probus South Pacific suggests 4% of retirees in an area would support a club but I work on 3%. Clubs typically start with about 30 members and grow by word of mouth.   

 “The challenges in starting a club are effective marketing of the initial meeting and finding a right-sized but low-cost venue. Commercial venues often charge too much. City council facilities work well – there’s about eight Probus clubs all meeting at Monash City Council."

Probus welcomes new clubs because a swathe of clubs founded 30-40 years ago have aged. Australasian membership of Probus is down from 175,000 in 2011-12 to 124,000 this year (current Australian Rotary members, 27,000). The Probus member decline has slowed noticeably in the past couple of years after vigorous marketing led by Probus’ Parramatta headquarters.