GREY MATTERS October/November 2014 U3A Network Queensland Bi-monthly E-News

October/November 2014
GREY MATTERS
U3A Network Queensland
Bi-monthly E-News
U3A NETWORK QUEENSLAND & U3A
ASIA PACIFIC ALLIANCE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
CHERISH TODAY – CHALLENGE TOMORROW
28, 29 and 30 May 2015
The steering committee organising this prestigious event have been hard at work.
The list of dynamic guest speakers is growing and sponsors and supporters are
coming on board.
The three day event will include two full days and a gala dinner at Brisbane City Hall
with a programme of guest speakers from around our state, and also our international U3A guests.
Day Three will be hosted by U3A Brisbane at 344 Queen Street and will include the
Qld Network AGM, inaugural Presidents’ Council and concurrent workshops on
various U3A topics. This day will be at no extra charge to delegates.
Registrations for the Conference will open on 1 December. The conference dinner
will have a limit so register early.
Greg Taylor, Brisbane U3A has constructed a wonderful conference website, made a
promotional video and signed us up to Twitter. Greg Doolan has created the
conference Facebook page and with all of these electronic options there will be
ample opportunity to keep up to date with information.
Website:
http://www.u3aqldconference.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/U3A-Network-Qld-and-Asia-ificAlliance
-International-Conference/701731619908005?ref=hl
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/u3aqldconf
You can register on the website to automatically receive updates.
The opportunity to attend an International U3A Conference in your own state will not
come around very often, so don’t miss out. Life Long Learning is not just about what
we do every week, but also recognising and participating in these special occasions.
Rhonda Weston
U3A Network Contacts
IN THIS ISSUE
President - Rhonda Weston
Secretary - Adrienne Brougham
Treasurer - Alan Williams
Conference, 2015 ......................... 1
President’s Report ........................ 2
News from Around the State ...... 2-3
email - [email protected]
Keeping Mentally Fit ..................... 4
http://www.u3aqld.org.au
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PRESIDENT’S REPORT
The calendar indicates that it is almost Christmas. As the years pass I’m sure that
they are getting shorter each year because I ask myself again “where has this year
gone”. The grandchildren, who just yesterday were babies, are off to school and I
now look “up” to my teenage grandson. Is it because our lives are so busy that the
days pass quickly, or because there is still so much to do and see and time is of the
essence?
Several members of the Network Committee attended the Regional Meeting hosted
by Beaudesert recently. Regional Meetings continue to play an important role in our
organisation. The opportunity to meet your neighbours face to face, share information,
resources and ideas are the key reasons for promoting these events. Our thanks to
Andy Fechner and his team for hosting this very worthwhile day.
The next full Network Management Committee meeting is to be held on December 6 th
at the premises of U3A Brisbane. If you have any business that you would like your
Network to discuss please contact either Adrienne or myself.
I take this opportunity to thank you all for your support during 2014, many great
events have taken place and U3A has gained greater prominence in our communities.
I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas and look forward to meeting up with you
in 2015.
Rhonda Weston
News from Around the State
ROMA
Two groups in Roma meet regularly to make items
for hospitals and homes.
Margaret Lee of the Sewing/Knitting Group,
reported that:
We achieved our aim to knit articles to benefit our
local community, presenting 18 trauma teddy bears
to the Red Cross (with more to finish) plus 2 rugs to
each of our Aged Care Homes. We also sent a
parcel of ‘Premmie’ knitting to St Vincent’s Hospital
in Toowoomba.
We are now knitting teapot cosies to keep the teapots hot for the patients at Pinaroo.
Our big effort is to knit lots of beanies and rugs for the children undergoing cancer
treatment in the Turner Ward at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane.
Roma Knit-Along Group
Every Monday morning during Term, a small group
of Roma U3A members gather together for an hour
of knitting and chat, knitting squares to make lap
rugs for charity.
Satchel Paige (1906-1982) once asked, “How old would you be if you didn't
know how old you were?”
We are so obsessed with age, Paige implies, that we allow it to define our
identities. Break out of the mental set that makes you think of your age first,
and your identity second.
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GYMPIE
The Ageing Expo held at Goldfields Plaza shopping centre is run in conjunction with
Seniors’ Week and was held on 4, 5 and 6 September We had displays from some of
our classes, the most notable being a beautiful display from the
Art Class which drew many admirers .
Over the three days we had a Video Presentation displaying
many ideas and concepts of what U3A is all about.
“Once again this expo profiled U3A Gympie Inc as a modern and
progressive vehicle for Positive Ageing,” President Eileen
Jackson said.
“We had numerous enquiries and signed up
some new members on the spot.”
All in all, a most successful event.
Sandra Hamilton
Vice-President
Helen Gale, Art Tutor
TOOWOOMBA
As part of its commitment to excellence, U3A in Toowoomba Inc recently developed
some training materials for tutors. These resources deliver tips and hints for teaching
adults and writing lesson plans, discussions on what makes an effective tutor,
information about U3A in general and Toowoomba in particular, and everything else
our tutors need to know in order to carry out their function effectively. We aim to incorporate this training as part of the induction process for new tutors as they join us.
The first training day for Toowoomba’s existing and new tutors was held early in
October. The day was an outstanding success. Comments on the Evaluation Forms
were positive and included, “Very well organised”; “Wish we’d had training like this at
QUT”; “Excellent day”; and “Glad this had been offered to U3A tutors.”
We also received some excellent suggestions for improvement, some of which we
will incorporate into future training.
NEWS FLASH
FAREWELL
The Network Committee farewells Carol Elgayar, Maryborough U3A. Carol has
served on the Network committee for 18 months as the representative for Frazer
Coast. We thank Carol for her contribution to the state committee and wish her well
for the future.
WELCOME
We welcome Alison Taylor, Hervey Bay U3A to our state team. Alison is an enthusiastic, positive and committed U3A member and we know that she will contribute
greatly to the continuous growth and promotion of U3A. Welcome Alison.
Rhonda Weston, President
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Keeping Mentally Fit
An article in the October/November issue of OneCota, which was sourced from
seniorcarecorner.com reports that various neuroscience research studies have
proved that seniors can improve cognition and reduce risk for developing dementia if
they have fit brains.
Some activities that help keep your brain sharp and stimulate your brain’s frontal lobe
(the thinking brain) are:
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Puzzles, such as Jigsaw puzzles of 500 pieces or more; Sudoku,
crosswords; wordsearch
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Playing board games and chess
Reading newspapers, books, magazines
Having a conversation
Watching a movie or play such as Hamlet or Macbeth
Participating in physical exercise
Painting
Practicing math problems
Eating healthy foods and staying hydrated
Staying positive and managing stress
Bird watching
Learning something new – a foreign language or musical instrument
Build something, such as a model plane or birdhouse
Getting a good night’s sleep
Learning a new word every day and using it
Products that may help to improve brain fitness (and may even be fun!) are:
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Action or video games, such as Wii or Xbox 360
Life-long learning, online learning
Brain training software
Numerous low or no-cost online games to stimulate brain fitness.
You don’t need to do all of the above. Select whichever tools you think will work best
for you and give them a try.
The secret to brain health is repeat, repeat, repeat, so keep at it every day to
achieve improvement.
We might well add that we should encourage seniors to join their local U3A, where
they will find many of the things listed in this article!
Note: seniorcarecorner is a USA site but it does contain some helpful information for seniors the
world over.
This official e-news of U3A Network Qld is issued bi-monthly.
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2014 NETWORK COMMITTEE
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Committee
Rhonda Weston
Julie Porteous
Adrienne Brougham
Alan Williams
Maria Licence
Greg Doolan
Alison Taylor
Janet Behan
Andrew Bode
Toowoomba
Redlands
North Gold Coast
Townsville
Brisbane
Brisbane
Hervey Bay
Roma
Broadbeach
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