What is Probus?

Although retirement is a happy condition, many of us would like to maintain a loose, social network of like minded people. Probus clubs were created to address this very need. A Rotary Club usually sponsors the formation of a Probus Club but, from then on, it is autonomous. Only a minority of Probus members were ever Rotarians.
Clubs meet regularly to chat, socialise and listen to a guest speaker. The very first Probus Club formed in the early 1920's, in Sakatchewan, Canada. There are now over 300,000 Probus members in approximately 4,000 clubs, worldwide (www.probus.org). From "our" first club, started in Welwyn Garden City during 1965, there are now some 1,700 Probus clubs in the UK.
However, what does PROBUS actually stand for? Well, it is usually explained either as derived from PROfessional and BUSiness or as Latin for probity but there is a Cornish village, although we have never met anyone who has visited. Probus was also a Roman emperor, remembered for his services to vine cultivation and something of a devotion to the end product. Feel free to select any from the above or, better still, in the tradition of Probus independence, think of a new one. Then come and tell us about it!