Upcoming Meetings

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• Monthly Meeting with Barbara Dickson

  • When
    October 30, 2024
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Portuguese Club, 870 Townline Rd, Cambridge, ON

  Barbara Dickson will speak to us about:
  
  Canada’s Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo

  The vast majority of people who live in Ontario are unaware that an extensive abandoned tunnel system runs under the city of Toronto.

  During the Second World War, the Canadian government built a sprawling top secret munitions plant outside the city limits in the rural community of Scarborough.

  The plant, called GECO — pronounced Gee-ko — comprised 346 acres, over four kilometers of tunnels, and 172 buildings (built in seven months.)

  Women from Toronto and across Canada — some from as far away as the Maritimes and British Columbia — moved to Toronto to work at the plant eager to do their “bit” for King and Country.

  Many women also moved to Pickering, Ontario to work at the D.I.L. shell-filling plant. With countless thousands fighting overseas, countless more men and women worked tirelessly in Canadian war plants, producing everything from planes and tanks to ammo and bandages.

  GECO personnel often referred to their workers as the “Fourth Arm of the Service” or the “Girls behind the Guns” and were eager to help end the war quickly to bring their menfolk home.

  CLUB BUSINESS: The Management Committee wishes to announce a couple changes. Mark Maloney has been appointed to take Jerome Amlinger's position as 1st Vice-President. David Shaw has been appointed to take Mark Maloney's position as Technical Committee Chair.
  

  LUNCH BUNCH: After the meeting, all members are invited to have lunch (at their own cost) at Kelsey's Roadhouse, 525 Hespeler Road. A great way to get to know your fellow members.

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• Monthly Meeting with Debbie Bulten

  • When
    November 27, 2024
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Portuguese Club, 870 Townline Rd, Cambridge, ON

  Here's some notes from Debbie Bulten, our guest speaker on November 27 . . .

  My name is Debbie Bulten, I’m a mother of 3, a joint business owner with my husband, and a multi-sport endurance athlete.

  I’ve been very fortunate to enjoy a long athletic career spanning 4 decades. My running journey started at the age of 15 with the regional track and field team, and progressed through Provincial and National levels.

  I took a break during my university years to concentrate on studies, then resumed when I was 25, after the birth of my first child. I completed my first marathon in Toronto that year, and found my love of running again. I competed in my first triathlon several years later, which kick started my journey into Ironman triathlon.

  

  During my years of competing in Ironman races, I began training for ultramarathons. I’d found a passion for endurance sports. My first ultra distance race was in 2011. Since then I’ve run more than 80 ultras ranging in distance from 50km to 400km (240 miles).

  I was the first female to complete a 200 mile trail ultra in Canada, and in 2023 I completed a climbing project known as the Seven Summits, climbing the highest mountain peak on each of the seven continents around the world.

  I summited both Mt. Everest and Mt. Lhotse (4th highest mountain in the world) back to back, within 24 hours, making me the first Canadian woman to ever accomplish the feat.

  I was honoured with the 2023 Tim Turow Athlete of the Year award for mountaineering. I undertook the Seven Summits project because I thrive on challenges that engage both mind and body, and I strive to push the limits of my own potential in my endeavours.

  Through endurance sport, I try to show myself and others that we are capable of more than we think, and the potential of our bodies and minds can be realized when we put ourselves out there.

  PERSONAL VIGNETTE: Also in this meeting, Tom Dean will be delivering his personal vignette.

  LUNCH BUNCH: After the meeting, all members are invited to have lunch (at their own cost) at a local restaurant. A great way to get to know your fellow members.

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• Monthly Meeting with Dr. Gary Bruce

  • When
    January 29, 2025
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Portuguese Club, 870 Townline Rd, Cambridge, ON

  Dr. Gary Bruce will be speaking to us about:

  "The Return of Nazism?"

  Professor Bruce is the recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Teacher Award at the University of Waterloo.

  He has been teaching undergraduates and graduates in the history department at the University of Waterloo since September 2003.

  The courses taught by Professor Bruce include the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, and graduate seminars on modern European history.

  Professor Bruce’s students note that he has the gift of rhetoric with the “ability to capture his students in a lecture, dazzle students in discussion, and his creativity generates thought outside of the classroom.”

  His innovative activity called ‘Did I vote for Hitler?’ encouraged the students to apply their knowledge. In this activity, the class must decide whether a certain person voted for the Nazis based on the character and demographic traits of random individuals presented in a series of slides.

  A colleague describes his courses as a bridge between the past and the present. ”His courses are journeys and he invites students to accompany him on them. And from what the students tell me, each time he teaches a course it has all the magic of the first time he taught it, yet also all of the wisdom that goes into a course that has been taught many years by a great instructor. It is a fine line to walk, but somehow Dr. Bruce manages with flying colours. It is an art that comes naturally to him and one that he mastered early in his career.”

  LUNCH BUNCH: After the meeting, all members are invited to have lunch (at their own cost) at a local restaurant. A great way to get to know your fellow members.

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• Monthly Meeting with Noah Irvine

  • When
    February 26, 2025
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Portuguese Club, 870 Townline Rd, Cambridge, ON

  Mental illness is not a character flaw.
  It's an illness like any other illness.

  Noah Irvine is a young adult and his life has been anything but “normal.” When he was five, his mother died by suicide. When he was 15, his father died by prescription drug overdose. In childhood, he witnessed domestic violence. He has a learning disability. He has CPTSD.

  Today he is a mental health advocate and writer. He writes about all this not to earn your sympathy. He writes about it because they are simply facts of his life. They are simply situations he has learned to live with. These events shaped the course of his life and made him the person he is today.

  Noah is a neighbour of ours; he is from Guelph, Ontario.

  LUNCH BUNCH: After the meeting, all members are invited to have lunch (at their own cost) at a local restaurant. A great way to get to know your fellow members.

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• Monthly Meeting with Josh Martin

  • When
    March 26, 2025
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Portuguese Club, 870 Townline Rd, Cambridge, ON

  Josh Martin will be speaking to us about some life experiences, entitled 'Badge of Awesome'.

  Enjoy a few laughs while sparking memories about your own memorable mishaps.

  As a professional storyteller and illustrator, Josh Martin shares the lessons he's learned from his many misadventures, bringing his lighthearted presentations to life with his signature doodles.

  Find out what duct-taping a duffel bag to his brother's back taught him about taking shortcuts. Or what accidentally filling his boss's toolbox with wet cement taught him about good intentions. Or what the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree taught him about adaptability. It's all about finding teachable moments from life's blunders.

  He's also the creative force behind Badge of Awesome: a website that shares lessons learned from life's absurd moments at www.badgeofawesome.com.

  LUNCH BUNCH: After the meeting, all members are invited to have lunch (at their own cost) at a local restaurant. A great way to get to know your fellow members.

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• Monthly Meeting with Luigi Calabrese

  • When
    May 28, 2025
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Portuguese Club, 870 Townline Rd, Cambridge, ON

  Tech Trends, Innovations, Threats, and Dirty Little Secrets: Empowering Older Adults in the Digital Age
  
  Luigi Calabrese, President of Frontier Networks Inc., is a seasoned leader in the tech industry.
  
  With a focus on advocating for older adults, Luigi collaborates closely with law enforcement agencies in Canada and the USA, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the RCMP, and the Department of Homeland Security, to combat fraud and vendor abuse targeting seniors.
  
  As a sought-after speaker, Luigi is renowned for his ability to demystify technology and engage audiences with humour and relevant examples. Luigi is a passionate advocate for older adults, tirelessly working to promote pricing fairness and advocate for reforms to protect older adults from exploitation and abuse.
  
  In an era where technology is meant to simplify our lives but often complicates them, Luigi Calabrese discusses the latest trends in mobile devices, sensors, and wearables, focusing on enabling seniors to age comfortably at home.
  
  He also addresses the pressing issues of data privacy threats, hacking, and navigating the complexities of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) schemes to ensure seniors stay safe and empowered digitally.
  
  Get ready for a fun, adventured filled talk full of examples. You don't need to be technical (or tech savvy at all) to enjoy this discussion.
  
  LUNCH BUNCH: After the meeting, all members are invited to have lunch (at their own cost) at a local restaurant. A great way to get to know your fellow members.

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• Monthly Meeting with Professor Stuart Phillips

  • When
    June 25, 2025
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Portuguese Club, 870 Townline Rd, Cambridge, ON

  Kinesiology and Aging
  
  Professor Stuart Phillips is a Distinguished University Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Skeletal Muscle Health.
  
  His research focuses on the interactions of nutrition and exercise for optimal muscle function and quality of life in aging populations.
  
  He is a full Professor in Kinesiology and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Medicine at McMaster University. He is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. His research is focused on the impact of nutrition and exercise on human skeletal muscle protein turnover. He is also keenly interested in diet- and exercise-induced changes in body composition.
  
  His research is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the National Science and Engineering Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the US NIH, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the USDA.
  
  He currently has more than 33000 career citations and 400 original scientific research and review papers.
  
  LUNCH BUNCH: After the meeting, all members are invited to have lunch (at their own cost) at a local restaurant. A great way to get to know your fellow members.

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