A minute's silence was held to remember our long-time and active member Judy Ellis who passed away recently.

She will be missed as she was a committee member who always contributed to our special days with a poem a reading or an idea for entertainment

Our guest speaker was Di Green from Parkes who is a McGrath Breast care nurse servicing a large local area assisting ladies who have been diagnosed with cancer.

She reported that there are still eight ladies dying each day in Australia with this disease and early intervention is so important to be able to fight the cancer spreading.

Men are also diagnosed with breast cancer and mammograms are very important for early detection.

A powerpoint display was given to illustrate different types of cancer and medical support. Mary Everson thanked Di and presented a small gift.

Our next event for ladies Probus will be a luncheon at the Vandenberg Hotel on November 26th at 12pm. There will be no meeting this month.

The cost of a two-course meal is $28 payable to our treasurer Elvy Quirk by November 19. This will take the form of a Christmas lunch and we encourage all to wear something depicting Christmas. We will have some members providing us with items for entertainment.

We ask ladies to bring along a gift to the value of $10 so we can share a present for Christmas.

Lyn Simmonds will have her book stall on display with new books that have arrived.

We hope to see a nice number of our members join us on this day for our last gathering for this year so let Elvy know if you would like to be included.

- Colleen Liebich

President Robert Bryson opened the October meeting of Men's Probus by welcoming 35 members and one guest John Herbert, who hopefully will become a member.

The usual meeting procedures followed.

Alan Toole then introduced the guest speaker Darren Borger, the Practice Manager at Forbes Medical Centre. Darren is a native of Forbes, brought up and schooled here.

He was first employed by Frank Spice Autos and, after some years there, he then achieved the position of Senior Electoral Officer for the National Party member and Deputy Premier Troy Grant, who initially was Minister for Native Vegetation then Tourism.

Darren met many very important and interesting people during his time working in State Government.

He thoroughly enjoyed his time in that post although he admitted to receiving death threats during the greyhound debate.

When Troy Grant, in the position as the Police Minister, resigned from the State Government, Darren secured a position with the Royal Flying Doctors Service. He enjoyed his time there very much as he was the holder of a pilot's licence.

For his next move, his family drew him back to Forbes and his present post with the Forbes Medical Centre in Elgin St as Practice Manager.

Darren proved to be one of the most interesting speakers we have had the pleasure of listening to. He was accorded a very comprehensive vote of thanks for his talk.

The guest speaker for November will be our Mayor Phyllis Miller OAM.

- Alister Lockhart OAM, publicity officer