This important conference will bring together the combined weight of AIUTA, the International Association of Universities of the Third Age, and the U3A Asia Pacific Alliance. For further information please see the website http://u3a-osakainternationalconference2016.org
Issue number one hundred and eighty-one (February 2016) from the U3A Asia Pacific Alliance and WorldU3A Service. Sent on the first day of every month to U3A members and kindred groups anywhere in the world.
Feel free to copy any or all of this information in your newsletters.
Please send items of possible interest to the editor, Tom Holloway.

AIUTA NEWS

Dear Friends of AIUTA
I would like to wish you a very good and happy new year 2016. This new year will be the anniversary of AIUTA founded during the academic year 2015/2016 in Toulouse. AIUTA will organise special events for commemoration on our common history. You are warmly invited to participate.
With warm regards
François VELLAS, AIUTA President

AIUTA 2016 NEW EVENTS
January : ACORES PORTUGAL
February : BULGARIA / BULGARIE
March : MOROCCO / MAROC
April : BRASIL / BRESIL
May : CANADA QUEBEC
FRANCE REIMS General Assembly, GB and Conference
June : ITALIA / ITALY
July : MONGOLIA / MONGOLIE
Aoüt : CHINA / CHINE
September POLOGNA / POLOGNE
October: JAPAN OSAKA Governing Board and joint Asia-Pacific Alliance Conference - see banner above
November MAURITIUS / MAURICE
Decembre DJIBOUTI

Azores: On Thursday 14th January, Ian Funnell, AIUTA Treasurer joined Prof François Vellas, Nadzeda Hrapkova AIUTA Secretary General and Paule Vidal Deputy Treasurer to a meeting held by Prof Carlos Santos with Mayor of Vila Franca.

A new programme will be initiated to write a handbook on "Municipality and U3A". AIUTA delegates also met the Rector of the University of the Azores and met the team of the University of Third Age and senior students

Martinique: Prof Fred Celemene, AIUTA Governing Board Member invited the AIUTA President to participate in a workshop to set up a new U3A development in the Caribbean with AIUTA support. A new initiative will be set up with regional support.

Hector Elisabeth in charge of this project will first initiate cooperation for U3A with University of West Indies in Trinidad.

Bulgaria: Prof François Vellas with Nadezda Hrapkova AIUTA Secretary General and Lionel Becherel International expert participate in Bulgaria to the programme to create a National University of Third Age.

They met Minister of Education Prof Todor Tanev and his advisor M Georgi Stankov and visits Sofia University and vice rector for continuing learning. Sofia university will host the first university of third age in Bulgaria and will participate to AIUTA events and projects in cooperation with AIUTA U3A members.

Friday 22th January, Prof François Vellas, AIUTA President, Georgi Stankov and a team from Ministry of Education of Bulgaria visits new programme on Senior Study Tour that will be implemented in the region of Plovdiv (Bulgaria) in connexion with the National University of Third Age. This study tour will agregate Roman Heritage sites, Medieval Monastery Heritage sites, Museumand literature such as Peyo Yavorov House and Museum, Landscape in the mountain and gastronomy.

NEXT AIUTA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE:

Joining and registration plus programme details for the 12th - 14th of May conference in Reims in English is available here >>>
All Activity Groups: Browse free online courses from top universities and specialist organisations. Usually 2 to 6 weeks - there are several starting in February and March. Join courses that are starting now or coming up soon.
(Thank you Maggie Roberts of Shoreham and Southwick U3A)

Planning for Group Visits: This is a website full of literary and history events around the UK, set up to encourage foreign tourists, but why not take advantage of it? Complete with travel information, maps, and things to do when you get there. Click here >>>
(Another brilliant Idea from Maggie Roberts, U3A UK).

News from Raman Barouski of U3A Minsk in Belarus: We started in 2013 and now Minsk U3A today is - 1327 Third Age students, 123 volunteer teachers, 19 Educational programs. Minsk University of the Third Age works under the wings of the Belarusian Association of Social Workers and Minsk City Executive Committee.

The Third Age: new chances for social inclusion, 2010-2015, financial support by the foundation «Remembrance, Responsibility and Future», Germany. In 2010-2012 new for Belarus technologies of social work with older people were tested within the project on the basis of the Minsk home for pensioners and people with disabilities, manuals «Social Services for the elderly: Sustainable Development Strategy» and «Computer literacy and ICT for the elderly» were published. More information can be found in Russian here >>>

Art Groups: Mike Skidmore is a professional portrait painter. He says "Download my free tutorials. There's no catch. I just believe in sharing information".

Tutorial 1: Taking reference photos
Tutorial 2: Drawing
Tutorial 3: Painting a grisaille
Tutorial 4: Oil colours and glazing

"In forthcoming monthly issues I'll be covering more in depth how-to information on painting portraits, still life and animals. Downloads are high resolution and printable to keep for reference." If you want to know more about him just visit his website >>>

UK Groups: Easily accessible to northern groups in the UK, these free talks at the University of York, styled on the famous TED Talks, cover a wide range of subjects, including music, philosophy, history, science, politics, literature.

For more information and to book places go to or click here >>>

History Re-enactment: Kynren is a historical extravaganza being staged in County Durham next summer 2016 with a cast of 1,000 locals. Taking its name from the Anglo-Saxon word for generation, Kynren will take up to 8,000 spectators on a journey through 2,000 years of British history, from the Roman and Viking invasions through to the industrial revolution and the second world war. Learn more about it here >>>

Researching: The STATISTA Research Portal is an excellent source of information about relevant data from over 18,000 sources, Government, Commercial, Social issues, Shopping surveys, Medical statistics.

The customized search query form provides you with a list of statistics, studies and reports in a matter of seconds. Many important trends are presented in a visualised form, such as a graph.

Examples of visualisations of various subjects can be seen here >>>
U3A News from India

Indian Society of U3A (ISU3A) a networking conglomerate of voluntary bodies working for the cause and care of the elderly was launched on march 29, 2008 during national conference on population ageing & development in India organized by Institute of Social Development, Udaipur and G.B. Pant Social science Institute, Allahabad University. The main purpose is to integrate India’s senior citizens with each other & with those of other world countries.

Doors are now open in India for the elderly over 50 years to catch up with enriching experiences of graceful ageing under the rubric of a global U3A movement. The website address is http://u3aindia.weebly.com/


Report from Dr Pradeep Sinha
A joint meeting of the two U3A units at Allahabad - Sangam and Prayag - was held on 3rd. Jan., 2016 in the Temple Hall of Chinmaya Ashram.

The highlight of the programme was a highly informative and useful presentation by Dr. P K Sinha on "Healthy Living" and another inspiring one on "Essence of Bhagwat Gita". This was followed by a spiritually elevating talk by the resident Acharya of Chinmaya Mission, Swami Yogasthanand Ji. The entertainment quotient was provided by a short music session towards the end.


Report from Dr. Captain M. Singaraja, U3A Chennai Senior Citizens Bureau. Flood Relief Camp in December 2015 at New Boopathi Nagar, Chetpet, was a memorable occasion. From Kilpakkam Police Station four sub-inspectors and other police personnel under the direction of IOP/L&O, Mr T. Sunderamoorthy, accompanied SCB Team consisting of the Chairman, Vice-chairman and Sec. General. All assembled at Kilpakkam Police Station at 10am and proceeded to the site at 11am after necessary preparation. This was the culmination of networking with Tamil Nadu Police, for the last few days and storing the flood relief materials in advance. For full information read the January issue of Link Age here >>>

From Sri J R Gupta, Executive Chairman of ISU3A. For January issue of Elderly News click here >>>

Report and pictures from Shri R.S. Dhakar, U3A Udaipur.
Our January Festival is Makar Sankranti. This is celebrated to mark the transition of Sun into Capricorn.The festival also marks the beginning of harvest season, which is an important period in an agriculture country. In the rural and coastal areas, a cock fight is held and is a prominent event of the festival.

You see us playing the Sitoliya game - loved by many people; it is a funny, simple and inexpensive game, also known as Pithoo in some regions of India. It needs seven small flat stones. Pile these stones so they make a small tower then hit it by cloth-made hand balls from a fixed distance. From quite some time we have observed that these Indian traditional festivals and games are losing their significance due to advancement of technology. Sadly, though this generation has lack of time, or the place to play these games. Their time is spent in front of television, video game or probably surfing internet.

 


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

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