The Government and other supporting groups, under the “Full of Life” banner, have made UK Older People’s Day the focus of a wide programme of activity, celebrating later life. Numerous organisations are working together to coordinate a national programme of activities and events leading up to and around 1 October.Building effective partnerships is vital to our work – enabling us to celebrate the achievements and contributions that older people make to our society and to the economy. Through this we hope to start to tackle negative attitudes and outdated stereotypes.

Our partners are committed to make Older People’s Day a success and organisations have made pledges for their involvement in UK Older People’s Day.  Click below for any more information.

http://olderpeoplesday.co.uk/our-partners/

Any ideas on how Kingston U3A might contribute???     Contact us at  kingstonu3a@gmail.com

Volunteers sought for participation in a Research Study Measuring white cell survival in vivo using heavy water labelling

 We are looking for volunteers to help us with a research study investigating how the body uses white cells to defend against infections

 What does it involve?

This study involves three things:

• A screening visit where we ask some questions and take a blood samples
• Drinking some “labelled” water which enables us to trace new white cells when they are made. You can do this at home. It is tasteless and harmless.
•  A series of blood tests over a four month period.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for people who are at least 60 years old and in good general health

Are there any benefits?

This is not a treatment – it is an investigation – but it will help us understand the immune system better. It is not commercially funded and does not involve any drug administration.

We make a payment of £20 for the screening visit and £150 to cover your time and expenses if you take part in the whole study.

Interested in helping?    Who do I contact?

For more information, contact me:

Raya Ahmed

St George’s, University of London

Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE

Tel: 0208 725 5646

Email: rahmed@sgul.ac.uk

OR
Derek Macallan

Professor of Infectious Diseases and Medicine

St George’s, University of London,

Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE

Tel: 0208 725 0283; Fax: 0208 725 3487

Email: macallan@sgul.ac.uk

This study is funded by the Medical Research Council and has been approved by the National Research Ethics Committee London (Chelsea).

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

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.