Issue number one hundred and sixty-five (October 2014) from the WorldU3A Service, sent on the first of every month to U3A members 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.


U3A Theatre Groups: The Aughton and Ormskirk U3A Musical Theatre Group’s latest production, to be performed at the Civic Hall in Ormskirk on November 27th, 28th and 29th 2014, will be “something completely different”!

Like their previous, highly acclaimed productions: ‘That Terrible U3A’ (2011), ‘Up For It!’ (2012), and ‘Making Waves’ (2013), it has been written and composed by U3A member Tony Crimlisk with all original songs and dances. Unusually for a Christmas show, it’s set at the North Pole in the summertime where Santa runs a summer school to train ‘Fairy Godmothers’ and ‘Wicked Witches’ for pantomimes all over the world. However, through a series of calamities, the ‘Wicked Witches’ threaten to take over Christmas – will they succeed? “Oh yes they will.......?”

For more information email tonycrimlisk@mac.com

Lifelong Learning Skills: Kathrine Fenton-May, U3A Durban, writes to say "the last four weeks I have enjoyed one of the best presented COURSERA Online programs Learning to Learn. The good news is - they are offering another. A wonderful opportunity for young and not so young and improving Inter-generational Communication. Do not be slow in coming forward. You will be pleased you did". The course starts on 3rd October - but you can join now.

Another Free 5-week course from COURSERA - 'Living with Dementia' - strongly recommended by Dr Vyasamoorthy of India's Society for Serving Seniors is from John Hopkins School of Nursing


The map shown above is a 'screen-grab' from a very interesting video which can be seen at....
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2014/sep/23/carbon-map-which-countries-are-responsible-for-climate-change

It is shown here as a visual comparison of population, but also the video is an opportunity to think about the world we are passing on to our children and their children. What part can the U3A movement play in mitigating the effects of climate change? For possible answers click on http://u3aclimatestudy.pbworks.com/

Adventure activities: A full range, beautifully illustrated, of such activities can be found on U3A Chepstow's website. Archery? Pony trekking? Segway rambling? You can see it all here >>>

Congratulations to U3A Bhavana Lucknow. To celebrate their Foundation Day they held an 'Education Assistance Day' at which 106 meritorious but poor children were awarded cheques for school fees. In addition several U3A Bhavana members gave gifts to 14 blind children present. This was followed by a community lunch for all, including parents/guardians of children. For full details please see their Newsletter Report here >>>

Newsletter Editors: The October edition of Rick Swindell's GEMS Newsletter is now available from U3A Online.

Strongly recommended as a source of useful information on Health, Computing, and many subjects. It provides pointers to a wide range of sources - more than SIGNPOST can provide.

As an example the following TED talk, if downloaded and screened, could be used to stimulate discussion at any general meeting. Click-on or go-to >>>


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

Do you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter in future? Ask them to email tom@worldu3a.org with a request and they will be put on the list. This webpage may be printed onto both sides of an A4 page and distributed to those with no Internet.