AIUTA NEWS
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Prof François Vellas had meetings with universities in the EAU in November 11th and 12th to set up new U3A that could participate in the AIUTA International Network. New meetings will be organised in France in December.

Le professeur François Vellas, Président de l'AIUTA a participé à plusieurs réunions en vue de la création d'une Université du troisième Age dans les Emirats Arabes Unis les 11 et 12 novembre. Plusieurs sites ont été répertoriés afin que ces nouvelles UTA puissent participer aux travaux de l'AIUTA

NEXT AIUTA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE:
A programme in french for the Reims Conference is available as a pdf document here >>>

UNESCO: Le Professeur François Vellas, Président de l'AIUTA a été invité à la conférence internationale des Nations Unies (UNESCO et PNUE) à Vitoria 25-27 novembre 2015,en Espagne. F Vellas a obtenu que les Séniors soit inclus dans un paragraphe spécifique de la Charte en tant que participant actifs à la protection de l'environnement et à la transmission des savoir.

Prof François Vellas, AIUTA President was invited at the International Conference from UNESCO and UNDP hold in Vitoria, Spain on 25th-27th november 2015. F Vellas proposed and obtained that "Seniors input" would be officialy add to the new charter as a specific paragraph : "Ensure that the knowledge of seniors concerning traditions, cultural and natural heritage is retained and effectively transmitted to young people as inter-generational of sustainability

BULGARIA: Bulgarian Minister of Education and Research Prof Todor Tanev chairs first ministries meeting in Sofia on monday 30th november 2015, to officially start the process to implement new policy to develop University of Third Age network in Bulgaria. Prof François Vellas, President of AIUTA explains the different models of U3A in the world and the action and contribution of AIUTA to support Bulgarian initiative.

Minister Tanev offers to AIUTA President F Vellas the medal of the Ministry of Education and research of Bulgaria.

Greetings from Astana in Kazakhstan. My name is Aliya Mukhametzhanova and I am hoping to start a University of the Third Age here in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. Our wish is to encourage healthier senior citizens by lifelong learning and introducing our country to other people from different countries.

We older generation usually speak kazakh of course but also we were occupied for so many years by the soviet union that most people now speak russian too.

Are you learning russian? We want to learn english so perhaps we can help each other; and it would be wonderful if there is some way you can help us to start our own third age university >>>

If it’s no fun getting old, then why do surveys of national well-being show that older people are happier than younger people?

Recent research into happiness, questioning people about their lives as a whole, their jobs, family, social activities and other aspects, has started to reveal some intriguing patterns. New data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that older people tend to be happier rather than more miserable than younger people.

Between the ages of around 20 and the decade between aged 40 to 50, people score progressively lower in measures of happiness on average. But after the middle years of their life, that trend is reversed so that average happiness becomes steadily greater, until it levels off when people are about 70.

Christmas must prompt a new look at loneliness
As another Christmas approaches and the Third Sector gears up their efforts to ensure that those facing isolation and loneliness are supported at such an important time, a worrying trend appears to be emerging.

Recent research reveals that some 2.5 million people over 65 wouldn’t know where to go to get support for loneliness – it seems that our A&E and GP services are being increasingly visited by lonely individuals.

Clearly, we should make a real effort to understand the factors which are leading to so many older people finding their way to A&E.There are of course countless reasons that lead to older people ending up in this situation. But here we want to emphasise the role that loneliness and social isolation can play. Loneliness and isolation must be taken into consideration; firstly when examining underlying causes of why people end up at A&E, and secondly, when trying to identify solutions. These solutions should be focused on preventing the escalation of care need and avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions.

SCI/TECH GROUPS:
In spite of its name, this is a serious website from a serious university with interesting podcasts and videos. Based at Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), the Naked Scientists are a team of scientists, doctors and communicators whose passion is to help the general public to understand and engage with the worlds of science, technology and medicine.

UK Travellers: This website looks for (and sometimes finds) impressive savings for UK and cross-channel train journeys. It is managed and operated by rail travel enthusiasts determined to save as much money as possible on train tickets.

Split Ticketing, and their related internet portals, do not sell train tickets but only endeavor to identify and offer you moneysaving split train ticket options on the train route that you have selected and then provide you with a gateway to purchase those tickets from Raileasy. "We do our best to save you time and as much money as possible".

The Nostalgia Machine

This will surely bring the memories flooding back, Just click on a year and then an old favourite and hear it all over again - but this time with video. Try it now >>>

Thank you Kathrine Fenton-May - U3A Durban.

By virtue of MOU between Senior Citizens Council of Delhi and Senior Citizens Council of Mauritius under the ages of Ministry of Social Security, Mauritius, Mrs Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo, Minister for Social Security visited Delhi between 17th and 19th November 2015.

While addressing senior citizens in a special function organized by the Council,she appreciated the presence of senior citizens in large numbers. She elaborated a number of benefits being extended to senior citizens of Mauritius by her Ministry particularly monthly old age pension at the rate of Rs. 5,000 /- per month, free transport and free health during their life.

The 15th AISCCON National Conference at Goa is scheduled to be held at Dr Shamaprasad Mukharji Indoor Stadium of Sports Authority of Goa, Campal, Panjim -403001 on 6th and 7th March 2016. The Delegate Registration Form for the 15th AISCCON National Conference is attached HERE >>> for your use giving more details.

Interested members may fill up the delegate form and arrange to send them along with the registration and accomodation charges as early as possible to enable to make the arrangements.

The website 'Songs of Yore' contains Indian Film Music of the 1930s through the 60's. It contains a tribute to SD Burman on his 40th death anniversary (1 October 1906-31 October 1975).

No surprise though, that the Songs of Yore Award for the Best Female Playback Singer goes to Lata Mangeshkar. This year we had some very strong voices questioning her invincible superiority, though, by and large, she remained the overwhelming favourite for the best female playback singer. Most readers took the trouble of giving separate lists of her best and the best of “other” female singers, as well as a combined list, which had on the average about 4-5 of her songs, and the rest by the others, she, of course, being rated as the overall best. Thank you Dr Vyasamoorthy, U3A Hyderabad.

U3A Senior Citizens Chennai:
A camp on Hearing Loss Assessment Camp was held by U3A Chennai cum Senior Citizens Bureau (SCB) Chennai, on Nov 22, 2015, at Kilpauk, Chennai, with powerpoint presentation, Q & A session, Screening, Assessment and Trial test.

Thank you Captain Dr Singaraja.

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