Fortnightly News 15/5/2015
Woden Seniors Art Group
There are new paintings on display in the club foyer & the Anne Murray Room, my pick would be Ann Baker’s work titled ‘Keeping my Marbles’.
2nd BIG BOOK FAIR
August 7th, 8th and 9th
Preparation and planning for the 2nd Big Book Fair is well on track as we continue to process your very generous donations.
Keep them coming!
We are also accepting games, puzzles and toys …
Publicity is already underway and it will appear soon in Events ACT. It has already been published in the Woden Community Service e Newsletter at http://www.wcs.org.au/wcs-latest-news-and-events/eNewsletter.
Free Screening of the Movie ‘Still Alice’ – 7pm Wed 20 May
The Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) in conjunction with the ANU Film Group are putting on a free special Q&A screening of Still Alice on Wednesday 20 May in the Coombs Theatre, ANU. This American drama film was written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, it is based on Lisa Genova’s 2007 bestselling novel of the same name.
The film stars Best Actress Oscar winning Julianne Moore as a linguistics professor at Colombia diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, Alec Baldwin plays her husband. The film will be followed by a discussion between representatives of Alzheimer’s Australia, the AAG and Carers Australia. More details in a flyer in the Club foyer or contact Brett Yeats on 6281 7684 or at yeatsb.
University of the 3rd Age/COTA Forums on Again
Each year the University of the 3rd Age and COTA (ACT) collaborate in organising a popular program of forums for older Canberrans, running from June to October. This year’s forums are on topics as diverse as mature-aged employment, climate change, the Iraq war and enjoyable ageing. Come along and hear from our expert, funny, engaging and thought-provoking speakers. You can find a link to the Program here.
SAFETY AND FRAUD AWARENESS
Beware of scam emails promising ATO refunds: Alert High Priority
Australians are reminded to be wary of scam emails that use the Australian Government and Australian Taxation Office logos to mislead the email recipient into thinking they are receiving a tax refund.
Clues that identify emails as scams include an incorrect sender address, poor grammar, inappropriate requests, a failure to address the recipient by name and the promise of money.
The ATO states that any message requesting more information before a refund can be released, is a hoax. If you receive a tax related scam message forward it toreportemailfraud and then delete it immediately from your system. For more information please visit Stay Smart Online:http://www.staysmartonline.gov.au/your_identity/avoiding_scams_and_hoaxes
COTA ACT Project Seeking Views
COTA ACT has been funded by the ACT Government (under the Seniors’ Participation Grants Program) to undertake a project to ask older residents of Ainslie and Weston what they think would make the suburb more livable and connected, or ‘age friendly’. The project is being undertaken in the first half of 2015.
COTA ACT is collaborating on the project with a range of other organisations in the community, including business and church groups, to get as many people involved as possible. COTA ACT is also working with Roads ACT, which has allocated funding to improve physical infrastructure in Ainslie and Weston over the next two years.
After collecting residents’ feedback and ideas, COTA ACT aim to build a coalition of organisations which can work together and with government to try to ‘make it happen’.
If you’re a resident of any Canberra suburb and would like to give us your opinion about what makes your suburb age-friendly and what needs to be changed, we’d love to hear from you. You can provide your comments by email to jthomson, through the online survey, by calling us on 6282 3777, or by sending us a letter (COTA ACT, PO Box 5566, Hughes ACT 2605).
See more at: http://cotaact.org.au/policy/achieving-an-age-friendly-community-ainslie-and-weston/#sthash.PogrCevG.dpuf
Spiral Program through to 28 May
Spiral is now in its 46th year of supporting/ entertaining some of Canberra’s senior citizens. We are a group of approximately ten volunteers mainly in our 70s and 80s. A few of us are in our 60s. Our thirty ‘members’ are aged between 65 and 95. We meet at the St. James Uniting Church in Curtin each Thursday from 10.00 am till midday. Some of them get themselves there but we do offer a pick up (and deliver) service to people in inner south Canberra.
We offer morning tea/ coffee with homemade cakes/ biscuits/ sandwiches followed by some form of entertainment. Usually this is a guest speaker, sometimes a musical performance and occasionally we go for picnics.
Thursday 21 May Karyn Wilkinson
Karyn, a Learning Facilitator at the National Portrait Gallery, will be returning to show us and discuss the 44 photographs that were shortlisted from a record 2500 entries in this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize.
Thursday 28 May Amy Lay
Amy is another person we are pleased to welcome back. Amy is a curator at the National Archives. Her current exhibition is Without Consent: Australia’s past adoption practices.
For more information about the Spiral Program, please contact Gwenyth George on 6286 5004, Sue Murray on 6281 6974 or Brett Yeats on 6281 7684 or at yeatsb.
Justice of the Peace
You will find Maureen in the Anne Murray room on Tuesdays between 10.30am and 2pm for Justice of the Peace matters.