History of Our Chapter   

2016

PrimeTimers®Nanaimo was started by Bob Harkabus and George Loepp in August 2016, with the help of PrimeTimers®World Wide.  Bob and George placed an ad in the Nanaimo Daily News and attracted 12 men to the organizing meeting at the L'Association des francophones de Nanaimo (The Francophone Center of Nanaimo).  Bob was the acting President and George the acting Secretary/Treasurer for 2016 and they guided us through our first year.

2017

For 2017, a new Board of Directors was elected with Rick Amelotte as President, Wiley Fargen as Vice President, Don Gillett as Secretary/Treasurer, Doug Paterson as Newsletter Editor and Bob Harkabus and George Loepp as Directors at Large.

2017 was a year of experimentation. We tried monthly meetings, rotating coffee locations, rotating pub nights, potlucks, various daytrips, pride events and a Facebook page.  The monthly meetings were poorly attended and were scrapped.  Although the rotating coffee mornings and pub nights drew acceptable attendance, we found that having fixed locations and dates and times increased attendance.  The potlucks attracted about a third of the chapter and we wanted to have more. The daytrips were popular and more were requested. Attendance at the Nanaimo Pride Festival and the Salt Spring Island Parade was good, although we  did not plan sufficiently in advance. Doug Paterson did a super job with communications through an improved newsletter and the addition of Weekly email updates.  The Facebook page was followed by only a few members and friends and we decided to end it and use the newsletter and news updates as our means of communication.  For 2017, the chapter grew from 12 to 27 members.

2018

For 2018, a new Board of Directors was elected with Wiley Fargen as President, Doug Paterson as Vice President, Don Gillett as Secretary/Treasurer, Doug MacIntyre as Event Coordinator/Newsletter Editor and Bob Harkabus, George Loepp and Bert Mountney as Directors at Large.

We dispensed with the monthly meetings altogether, fixed the coffee and pub nights and arranged more outings for live, theater, ballet and opera. We continue to experiment  with new activities and new venues. To focus on the development of our events, we dedicated a Director to coordinating events. Along with a number of improvements to the newsletter, we launched this website. Although the newsletter and news updates are effective means of communicating with existing members and friends, its effectiveness was limited to existing members and friends and those they passed it along to (the email version of word of mouth). we hope the website will allow us to reach other people in our area of coverage, who don't frequent our central core of Nanaimo.  For 2018, the chapter grew from 27 to 39 members.

2019

For 2019, a new Board of Directors was elected with Wiley Fargen as President, Bruce Mason as Vice President and Event Coordinator, Don Gillett as Secretary/Treasurer and News Editor,  Bob Harkabus and George L. as Directors at Large and Interests Coordinator and Paul T. as Director at Large and Associate Webmaster.

The highlights of 2019 were our Nanaimo Chapter participation in the local Pride Festival, as well as , for the first time, a PTN Alaska Cruise was organized by some of our members. Click on our 2019 Event Images link in the menu on the right to see these event pictures.

 

 

2020

In 2020 a new Board of Directors was elected with Wiley Fargen as President and Webmaster, Bruce Mason as Vice President and Event Coordinator for Nanaimo South, Directors at Large- Richard Dolen, Event Coordinator for Nanaimo North, and Rob Wylie, Interests Coordinator. These Coordinators will work as part of a collective team. Don Gillett as Secretary/Treasurer and News Editor. Bob Harkabus and George Loepp are now on the Board as Directors Emeritus and will take an inactive but guiding role. Paul T, Director at Large, will continue as Associate Webmaster.  Although many events were planned, it suddenly became a challenging year with the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic world wide.  As situations evolve with continuous updates from the Canadian Health Minister will determine our course in 2020. At present it is a fluid situation and our Chapter is being cautious at present and looking forward optimistically. In April, our Chapter founding member, Bob Harkabus, passed away.  We will miss his kind and charming personality, a great loss to both George and to PTN. Bob is now with the Angels, but his loving memory is with all those who knew him.

 

2021

A new Board for 2021 was selected with Paul T. as President and Assistant Webmaster. Bruce Mason as Vice President and Events Coordinator; Don Gillett as Secretary/Treasurer and Newsletter Editor; Rob Wylie as Director and Interests Coordinator; Mike Watson as Director at Large; and George Loepp continues as Director Emeritus. Wyley Fargen is now Past President and continues on as our Webmaster. What a year 2020 has been with all the protocols and challenges relating to Covid 19. Now that vaccines are available for 2021 we are looking optimistically towards a better outcome. However we all still need to be vigilant and practice Covid protocols, even after vaccinations, thankfully happening this spring and into summer. With the upcoming warmer weather we should be able to continue our outdoor socially distanced gatherings, hopefully in the near future. Looking forward to a better forecast in later 2021!

(Board members photos edited from 2020 due to covid protocols)

Some of the 2021 highlights were a new Chapter Logo contest, and making a PTN video clip as part of our virtual Pride participation with the Nanaimo Pride Society. The new logo, designed by one of our PTN members, Douglas H., was accepted and Board approved in May and is now on our website Home Page and is to be used from now on for our Chapter. Here is the important background information on the new logo design:

• PTN members are very open minded, and tend to keep up with current technologies and ideologies, therefore a modern, forward-moving text font was chosen.

• The three words in the logo range in tones from dark, to grey, to light grey/white, which represent our various age groups (hair colour).

• PTN is a men's gay / bi group, therefore the Greek male symbol is represented in the word 'Nanaimo'

• The traditional rainbow flag has been condensed into a simple line graphic, and placed underneath the three words. The placement symbolically represents that PTN is supported by the rich history of the rainbow flag and the struggles of queer people worldwide.

• The momentary 'pause' in the rainbow flag line graphic represents two things:

   1) as the pause occurs at the letter 'i', it represents 'me' (as a member of PTN).

   2) indicates where we all are, as mature men, in relation to the spectrum-of-life.

 

2022

A new Board was elected for 2022 at the AGM on Nov. 27, 2021. 

Don G.- Secretary/Treasurer & Newsletter Editor; Wiley F.- Webmaster; Rob W.- Interests; Paul T.- President & Assist. Webmaster; Bruce M - VPres & Events; Mike W.- Director; George L. -  Director Emeritus.

A new roadblock starting into this year, OMICRON! Another fluid situation which will affect our socializing. Luckily starting in March many protocols are lifting and socializing safely in person can again start. However we still must be vigilant to keep everyone safe.  Stay Tuned for updates as they happen.

2023

We’ve given it our best shot in 2022 and some events were successful, some could have been better. It mostly boils down to member interest and involvement, or lack thereof. We are in a better position now after the COVID pandemic and new opportunities exist for a new Steering Committee to motivate our members into 2023.

In year 2022 the membership increased to 58, as of October, and our demographics also changed. Now the predominant member age group is in their 60’s, from the 70s before. Maybe our social focus should change as well? Are we meeting the social interests of the younger members? Can we attract “younger blood” to be involved in the planning and leadership? PTN must constantly change with the times and represent the social and demographic needs of all its members. These are some of the challenges for the new Board who were elected at the AGM on Nov. 19, 2022.

The name PrimeTimers Worldwide became a registered trademark and is now indicated with the ® symbol.

Therefore we are:           A Chapter of PrimeTimers®Worldwide.

In 2023 we removed all of our past newsletter issues from our website due to problems with alleged image copyright issues. This was done with an abundance of caution to prevent internet image robots from sourcing our publications any further. We also reviewed all of our posted website images and some, not of our own, were deleted. We did encounter a legal issue with aleged image copyrights. (see 2024)

 Here are the current Steering Committee (Board) members as of June 2023:

2024

We finished off the previous year with a membership total of 51. We faced a legal challenge in 2023 (an alleged image copyright) which resulted in having several in-camera Board meetings to resolve this issue, and resulting in a financial cost to the Chapter. This issue is now resolved. Looking on the bright side, we are still solvent, although with a depleted bank account. Moving forward, the future looks positive. Hopefully we can attract more membership participation. We are always looking for new member opportunities and to enrich the social benefits for all participants. On May 31, 2024 it was voted by the Membership to change our Mission Statement which now reflects more inclusivity. PrimeTimers® Nanaimo mission is to be a social and outreach organization for mature/senior gay, bi, trans, and other queer men in Nanaimo BC. While supporting other allied groups in our area, by fostering comradery between our membership and the broader queer community.  There was also a Constitutional change (3) to adjust our Chapter name to PrimeTimers®Nanaimo.  PrimeTimers®Worldwide holds the Registered Trademark of the words ‘Prime Timers®’ we will replace each occasion of ‘Prime Timers’ in the Constitution with PrimeTimers®.

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