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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-06-03 Daily Xml
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Active Elders Association

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (15:27): Today, I want to speak about the value of a very special association, which is in the electorate of Elder. The community club offers a weekly opportunity for those over 50 to come together to share in friendship, food and activities. It offers the prospect of companionship, which cannot be underestimated. Clubs such as these are important to so many in our society who can often find themselves alone and isolated.

This club I refer to is the Active Elders Association. It is located within my electorate and is situated at the corner of Charles and Albert streets in Ascot Park. The club has been active for over 45 years, and the premises currently caters to over 360 different individuals who participate in various activities on a weekly basis.

The club provides a valuable service to the many elderly in the local and surrounding communities and is a meeting place for members to participate in the various leisure and fun activities that the club hosts. These activities seek to improve the wellbeing and quality of life for elderly members of the community and reduce social isolation. In addition, the club facilitates provision of a meeting place for local multicultural and social welfare groups. The club is always welcoming new members and will endeavour to do its best to provide transport for those who need to have that facilitated for them to get to and from the venue.

The energy of club members is remarkable, and this is demonstrated by the fundraising abilities and vision on projects to further enhance the hall facility. The club, through various fundraising activities, has improved their meeting hall facilities to the extent that the building is now used most days of the week.

One of the unusual and very successful fundraisers they have implemented is the collection and shredding of newspapers, which is carried out by volunteers. These volunteers are generally elderly gentlemen and they are very amicable elderly men who will go around and collect newspapers from those who do not require them anymore; they will shred them and bag them, and then sell them for a small fee to businesses to use for stuffing packages so items will not break.

They also recently demonstrated their enthusiasm as the club completed the extension and renovation of the kitchen and main hall areas to accommodate the recent increase in membership numbers. As a result of this, meals can now be prepared in the kitchen and the space is used effectively, and it is a huge improvement on the small kitchen they had previously. This one now has massive surfaces and multiple cupboards. Additionally, access to the kitchen is now available for disabled and wheelchair-bound persons, and it makes it possible for them to be involved in the preparation of food.

Most recently the group, through their fundraising activities and with the assistance of the government, decided to invest in a solar panel system for their hall. This just highlights the progressive and dynamic nature of the Active Elders Association—the club that I am really happy to support. Many events have been organised by the association over the years, and in 2009 the association invited the Chinese community to be part of their celebration of the Beijing Olympics. I am told it was a huge success, with a large number of Chinese residents attending and also providing the food for lunch.

Some of the club's other activities that they celebrate during the year—I must add here they offer an activity every week of the year except over the Christmas/New Year break, so they offer celebrations of Easter; Pancake Day; Commonwealth Games, for instance; and also a Christmas Day breakup. They also have regular bingo games, eight-ball, bus tours and entertainers, and also an annual bowls tournament where they compete against the students of the Ascot Park Primary School—an event enjoyed by young and old alike, and a great bringing together of communities.

They have also recently discovered the value of the Wii computer technologies for fun, laughter and fitness. Many of the elderly members are reporting that their fitness is now improving using these Wii machines. The club also actively invites other groups to share in their facilities, such as the University of the Third Age, the Chrysanthemum Club, the Lions Club of Edwardstown and others.

Time expired.

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