Our General Meeting has Guest Speakers nine times a year.
Past speakers and their subjects have been:
2025
August: Mrs Preet Chouhan - Customer Care Specialist - Services NSW spoke on the topic “Preparing for the Seniors Driving Test” - what is involved in the Seniors Driving Test and what we can do to prepare for it.
October: Martin Thomas – a highly qualified and respected engineer in the electricity generating field and a Member of the Order of Australia for services to energy and engineering (and a Life Member of the Turramurra Probus Club) spoke on Nuclear Power.
2026
January: Bill Avery spoke on "Walking in Greater Sydney", sharing his enthusiasm for Sydney as the best walking city in the world. He revealed some of the lesser-known secrets and beauty spots of our city and provided information on how to access Walking Volunteer maps.
March: Judith Dunn, OAM FPDHS, spoke on the topic “Hoofbeats in History”, regarding early horse racing in the colony of NSW. Judith is a tour guide and sought-after public speaker, who received an Order of Australia medal for services to history and heritage and holds a Parramatta and District Historical Society Fellowship (FPDHS) for researching and recording Parramatta history. The beginnings of horse breeding and racing gave the populace fun and entertainment, was rich in incident and adventure, giving some owners prestige while bankrupting others. It improved the breeding of horses in the colony and was particularly evident in the Parramatta area.
April: The guest speaker for April was Ian Small, speaking on the topic 'The Kurrajongs ...a forgotten Australian story from World War 1', which relates the tale of the largest group of men to leave an Australian country town in the First World War. Author Ian Small stumbled across the story and became fascinated with this almost forgotten sliver of Australian history.
June: The guest speaker for June was Dr Richard Barnes speaking on his kayaking adventure "Solo Across The Tasman by Kayak."
July: In July Susan Butler OA, spoke on the topic ‘Aussie Slang’. Sue is the former editor of the Macquarie Dictionary and a lexicographer (responsible for identifying and deciding which new words are to be included in the dictionary). Sue is also an author and (aside from the dictionary) has written three books (some for sale after her presentation).
August: Our guest speaker was Garry Smith who spoke on The Thompsons of Thompsons Corner . Convicts settled in the (West) Pennant Hills district, made good and founded businesses, including Thompsons Store after which Thompsons Corner was named.