Issue number one hundred and fiftytwo (August 2013) from the WorldU3A Service, sent on the first of every month to U3A members anywhere in the world.

Aged 65 and over, in the UK and looking for a new challenge?
Award winning TV company Objective Productions is looking for people of a certain age who are open to trying new experiences and testing their limits. Maybe you’ve always been an adventurer or are you more the quiet type? It doesn’t matter either way.

For more info please call the Objective Productions Casting Department on 0207 202 2493 or you can apply directly by completing and returning this questionnaire>>> to: casting@objectiveproductions.co.uk by Friday 9th August.

Pension comparison: This website says "We are a free and independent service, set up by government to help people make the most of their money, we give free, unbiased money advice to everyone across the UK – online, over the phone and face to face. A table of pensions for comparison may be found here>>>

The Service is paid for by a statutory levy on the financial services industry, raised through the Financial Conduct Authority. Our statutory objectives are to enhance the understanding and knowledge of members of the public about financial matters (including the UK financial system), and to enhance the ability of members of the public to manage their own financial affairs".

Do you have links to India? The Indian Memory Project was founded in February 2010, by Anusha Yadav. It is an online, curated, visual and oral-history based archive that traces a personal history of the Indian Subcontinent, its people, cultures, professions, cities, development, traditions, circumstances and their consequences. Applying images, letters and stories from family archives (sent and collected from contributors), it reconstructs a visual history that is emotionally rich, vivid, informative and even more surprising than we think.

Family/Personal archives of photographs and letters hold a treasure trove of incredible & historically valuable information. They hold astonishing secrets, and when they reveal themselves via narratives, they become the missing links to a country’s emotional & personal history. A past that we can actually feel, connect and wonder with. Indian Memory Project is now also on the lookout for notable, interesting, personal and not so personal handwritten/typewritten letters (including postcards).

U3A Shared Learning Project: From Sheila Magee - U3A Downe, Northern Ireland.
Who was Vere Foster? He was an amazing and often overlooked man who was a philanthropist, in not just one field, but four. In a shared learning project, members of U3As in Northern Ireland and Active Retirement Ireland in the Irish Republic are studying this man and looking for stories about the people he helped.

He raised fund for 25,000 girls to emigrate in the time of the famine, he funded Irish schools, he tacked the poor handwriting standards by developing Vere Foster writing books with international handwriting competitions. Finally he funded a hospital and medical students in Belfast. If you are interested check our website at http://verefoster.info and to let us know your stories email smagee99-at-tiscali.co.uk.

Current Affairs Groups: This video by Professor Steve Keen explains his book 'Debunking Economics'. It's 42 minutes long and may be downloaded from YOUTUBE here>>> In it he exposes what many non-economists may have suspected and a minority of economists have long known: that economic theory is not only unpalatable, but also plain wrong.

Another interesting video in the same series by Anthropologist David Graeber is entitled Debt: The First 5,000 Years, and it argues that the history of debt is also a history of morality and culture.

The Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) is a regional association of more than 200 organisations and individuals. It works towards promoting quality education for all and transformative and liberating, life-long adult education and learning.

It strives to support community and people's organizations, national education coalitions, teachers unions, campaign networks, and other civil society groups and institutions. It offers excellent resources through its publications and newsletters>>>

TAIWANESE EDUCATORS VISIT MANNINGHAM U3A - report by David Jensz
A delegation from the New Taipei City Department of Education visited Manningham U3A on Wednesday 24th July. Members of the delegation were investigating adult education for senior citizens in Melbourne and they were particularly interested in the U3A model of involving volunteer older persons.

The presence of so many Mandarin speaking Manningham U3A members filled a vital role during the visit because they were able to explain the finer points of how a U3A operates.

Above: Mr Alex Kuo from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Melbourne; Elsie Mutton, U3A Network Victoria President; David Jensz, U3A Network Victoria Vice President; Bryce Normoyle, President Manningham U3A, and, Linda Chin, Wei Xing Huang and Yanwen Huang from Manningham U3A.

GEMs contain useful free resources, interesting research snippets for health conscious readers, fun items for those who enjoy a laugh, and technical bits and pieces.

A selection of this month's entries for GEMS, from U3A Online, plus an archive of past issues, is available here>>>