Issue number one hundred and sixty (April 2014) from the WorldU3A Service, sent on the first of every month to U3A members anywhere in the world.

Hello from the Third Age University of Vilnius, Lithuania. As you can see above, our seniors go on actively joining a great variety of activities in improving their personal and social life. Our recent greatest event has been a Grundtvig volunteering project (2012-2014).

Therefore, the experience we want to share and spread is the participation of Italian seniors from Agire sociale – Centro Servizi per il Volontariato di Ferrara (ASC) and the Lithuanian university of the Third Age MCTAU, Vilnius in the GRUNDTVIG international volunteering 2 year project “ACTIVE EVERY DAY “ that started in 2012. The exchange of six volunteers from both countries was an exciting and extremely successful act of international cooperation. For more information and photo gallery click on:
http://www.treciojoamziausuniversitetas.lt/lt/grundtvig-projektas 

Art History Groups: More than 10,000 artists and 150,000 paintings make The Artchive the largest online Web Museum in the world! Featuring the largest collection of paintings by artists like Renoir, Da Vinci, Picasso and more!

Music Groups: The earsense website celebrates and explores how music makes "sense" with a focus on the extraodinary genre of chamber music.

The centerpiece of earsense is a comprehensive database of chamber music composers, works, events and related media called chamberbase. Strongly recommended.

Picture at left is LvB age 25, painted before artists decided to inflict a scowl on all his images.

This interesting american website has a huge list of US and UK contacts, plus videos, plus documentary films about aging.

UK members: A change in pension rules in the chancellor's Budget speech means a retiree can now draw their entire pension in one go, if they wish. For some, the freedom will mean retirement planning that can better suit their needs. But what does it mean for the centuries-old annuity, and the security of an income for life which it provides?

A retirement annuity is an income that is bought once with a pension pot and lasts for the rest of the holder's life. A pension company will work out how long the pensioner is likely to live and will offer an income. If the buyer lives longer than expected, the provider makes less money than anticipated, or a loss. If the buyer dies sooner, the pension firm often keeps the difference.

Annuities have been criticised by pensions experts such as campaigner Ros Altman, who has said firms don't disclose how they calculate payments, and often add opaque fees.

The changes will affect those over 55 who have savings in a defined contribution (DC) pension scheme, such as a personal pension. In a DC scheme, the pension depends on the amount of money you, and perhaps your employer, have saved in the scheme.

The pensions proposals start at page 40 and the full budget document (in pdf) can be downloaded from here >>>

The following are the dates for the U3A conference in Nepal:

Arrival date:
Friday October 17th, 2014

Conference dates:
Saturday October 18th
Sunday October 19th, 2014

Extra day for excursion:
October 20th, 2014

Venue: Indreni Banquet, Gaushala, Kathmandu (seen here)

Organizing Partners: U3A Nepal, RIDA, Society for Senior Citizens

U3As George/Wilderness, Knysna and Tunbridge Wells -- three new additions to our online project MYU3A - a roundup of where other groups are and what other groups do from U3A Abergavenny (Wales) to U3A Zelenogorsk (Siberia). The purpose is to encourage visits between U3A groups, especially if you are organising a group visit to another country.

Is your group mentioned? If not, please send us an email or submit something by clicking here >>>

U3A Online: A complete GEMs Archive - Rick Swindell's newsletter - pdf printouts of all prior editions can be found at www.u3aonline.org.au