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 1 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. 2 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 3 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:  Puzzles, such as Jigsaw puzzles of 500 pieces or more; Sudoku, crosswords; wordsearch               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:     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. Send submissions to: [email protected] Deadlines: 15th in alternate months, Feb; April; June; August; October Please limit submissions to 100 -150 words. Your article may be edited, depending on space available. We publish photographs where possible. Disclaimer - While we carefully monitor the content in this e-news, you may sometimes find out-of-date information or broken links. 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 4