The Surbiton Escalator Choir looking very similar to the “Singing for Fun” group became a flash mob in the Bentalls Centre in Kingston recently. They toured the escalators and provided an interesting change to the average Sunday shopping experience! Click on Read More and then on this web link to see for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqwL1Dxv3S4
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Dear U3A, Many thanks for your help the past few months in passing on the information about our new show with Mary Portas.We are in our final casting process and particularly looking to speak with retired hairdressers/beauticians, and entertainers such as musicians, comedians, clowns, or those with any other performance skills. As I am sure you are aware this series is all about challenging ageism. We have set up a pop-up recruitment agency purely for retired people to prove that the skills and experiences a person has gained throughout their life do not suddenly vanish with retirement. We hope our programme will illustrate the untapped potential and skills that exist in the currently retired workforce, but also challenge the idea that once you retire you have no further use and belong on the scrapheap! Kind Regards, ANYA BROWNE | RESEARCHER Plum Pictures, 33 Oval Rd, Camden, London NW1 7EA Direct Line: 020 7184 6723 Switchboard: 020 7184 5700
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I am a PhD student at the Department of Psychology of the University of Roehampton and in my PhD project I am investigating memory for emotional content in aging. For this research project I am currently recruiting healthy older participants between the age of 60 and 80 who are English native speakers and who are interested in taking part in psychological research studies.
The studies are taking place at the Psychology Department of the University of Roehampton in the south-west of London. A study usually takes 1 to 1.5 hours and involves a short computer task, questionnaires and short psychological tests. No study is conducted without ethical approval of the Ethics Committee of the University of Roehampton and the anonymity of all participants will be ensured.
I hope that some of your U3A members might be interested in this research and I would like to ask you if it might be possible to include a short advertisement for my research project in your upcoming newsletter. It is roughly half a page and includes the information given above and a few additional details. I will be more than happy to provide you with more information about my research. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
Natalie Berger, bergern1@roehampton.ac.uk.
We are currently casting for a new channel 4 television series which will be presented by Mary Portas and we are looking for retired, senior citizens to take part and get involved in exciting new projects around the community, and share their experiences and skills.
We want to bring together a group of talented retired people who can use their skills for the benefit of their community, who live in and around London, and who perhaps are itching to get involved in a new project and meet new people.
From Catering to Gardening, DIY to Hairdressing, it doesn’t matter what people have done for a living they can all be a part of ‘The Agency’.
It is very clear that the U3A is a great place to pass on this message, and so we would be grateful if this information and our attached leaflet (with more details and information on how to contact us) could be circulated amongst your members at the Kingston society? Do you have a mailing list it could be sent to? Or a Newsletter? Or simply are able to call and spread the word in some way? Even if there is just one member of your committee who you think might be interested, it would be great to get this message to them in someway. We are working under fairly tight time constraints, so the sooner the better really!
We are really keen to hear from all sorts of senior citizens with a variety experiences, skills and stories.
Hopefully this is something you can help us with. If you have any questions or queries please feel free to get in touch, I’d be happy to explain this further.
ROSIE KNOTT | JUNIOR RESEARCHER
Plum Pictures, 33 Oval Rd, Camden, London NW1 7EA
Direct Line: 020 7184 6775
Meeting held at the Friends’ Meeting House in Euston Road, London on the 10th of May 2013.
Approx 120 members from the various London U3As attended. Esther Rantzen spoke/explained for about an hour, then continued more informally in a chat over coffee.
Her idea – The Silver Line – is a new, confidential and free helpline for older people open 24 hours a day every day of the year. The mission is to provide advice, information and friendship to isolated and vulnerable older people. It is not meant to replicate or compete with the work of already existing services but to refer older people facing loneliness and isolation to groups and organizations active in their community as well as providing a unique telephone befriending service, staffed by trained volunteers. She has invited members of the U3A in the first place to spread the word but also because she thinks the U3A already does excellent work for the retired generation, She invited suggestions for further improvement of the plan and hopes that some members will volunteer to become telephone friends.
Silver Line friends will work in pairs for safeguarding and will make booked weekly calls to those requesting their friendship service. They are also planning conference calls with groups linked by shared interests and facilitated by a Silver Line volunteer.
The first pilot was launched in December 2012 in Manchester and the North West. So far they have already received 2000 calls with around 350 people requesting regular weekly calls form Silver Line friends. There have been some 20 transfers or referrals to Action on Elder Abuse or Social Services for safeguarding. They have extended the duration of the pilot and its area of operation to the North East with a regional launch in Newcastle in June. The National Launch is planned for November with wide media coverage. They hope to be available to every older person in the U.K. –who needs them – in time for Christmas 2013. At present the free helpline is 0800 328 888 (too many 8s) so they are thinking of changing it to 0800 708090.
The Silver Line is based at Minerva House, 42, Wigmore Street W1U 2RY, generously donated by Minerva Plc. Any offers of support can be sent to this address.
Esther Rantzen CBE is the chairman.
The Board of Trustees includes:
Deputy Chairman – Colin Wagman FCA
Jane Ashcroft, The Anchor Trust
Chris Belcher, Slicitors for the Elderly
Paul Burstow MP
Lady Susan Chinn CBE
Gary Fitzgerald, Action on Elder Abuse
Professor Patrick Geoghegan OBE
Dr. Alex McMinn MBE, U3A
Su Sayer CBE, United Response