Information for Mosman Probus Club members

We had a wonderful tour behind the scenes of the glasshouses storing orchids and other wonderful tropical plants that the public never see. And we learnt some amazing facts.

Orchids grow on every continent except the truly frozen or barren, and Australia has its own odd take — while tropical orchids cling to trees, ours mostly grow in the ground. Every orchid has a cleverly shaped petal called the labellum, a built-in landing pad engineered to attract one specific pollinator. That riot of colours and forms isn't just pretty; it's advertising.

The Titan Arum, or corpse flower, is even more dramatic. It can grow over three metres tall, wait up to a decade between blooms, and then put on a 24-to-48-hour display that smells strikingly like rotting flesh to attract carrion flies as pollinators. Theatrical, but effective.

Among the surprises: dragon fruit and agave are both succulents, hiding in plain sight. Ant plants, native to Southeast Asia, create hollow chambers for ants, which return the favour with protection and fertiliser — a fair exchange.

It quickly became clear to all in our group that nature has been running some very creative experiments for a very long time.

 Fun fact: Not all flowers attract pollinators with sweet fragrances. Some use scents ranging from honey and fruit to dung and decaying flesh, proving that what smells terrible to us can be irresistible to insects. 🌺🪰🌵🐜

Alan Barr — "The Invasion of the Vikings"

Alan Barr gave one of the most memorable presentations seen at Mosman Probus for a long time — enhanced with remarkable AI recreations that brought the Norse world vividly to life.

He opened with a firm correction for fans of Viking TV dramas: those horned helmets are complete fiction. The Norse — never a single nation, but tribes spread across Norway, Sweden and Denmark — raided and explored for just 273 years, from the sacking of Lindisfarne monastery in 793 AD to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. A short window for such an outsized impact.

The key to everything was their ships — shallow-drafted, flexible longships that could cross the Atlantic, sail up rivers, and beach silently at dawn. They reached North America, Constantinople, North Africa and Paris. Navigation relied entirely on nature: sun, clouds, birds, and a crystal that could locate the sun even through heavy cloud cover.

Viking society was more sophisticated than its reputation suggests. Women held real authority — running farms, managing households, and initiating divorce. Their craftsmanship was exquisite. And their conversion to Christianity? Entirely pragmatic: they simply found they could strike better trading deals as Christians.

Alan closed with the Norse legacy hiding in plain sight — Tuesday through Friday are named after Norse gods, thousands of English words are Old Norse in origin, and Bluetooth technology takes its name from Harald Bluetooth, the Viking king who united Denmark. His runic initials form the logo on your phone.

As Alan put it — they've left us quite a legacy.

Remember when almost every office had a “tea lady” who brought you a cuppa, some bikkies and a great big smile. Well how lucky are we to have one and her name is Jenny Cotterell

We had a really excellent presentation from Charles Fellner (retired IT professional) on Scam Awareness at our April Meeting. .There was a very useful handout with the talk. Click here to download.