Symposium Summary

No Limits to Learning, TAN’s first conference for lifelong learning groups, was held on May 30 at Ryerson’s international Learning Centre in Toronto. With 89 registered, the discussion was lively, questions were thoughtful and the presentations were excellent.

The day was broken into two workshops in the morning, two in the afternoon and a wrap up speaker (Dr. Gillian Rowe from Baycrest) at the end. Many thanks must go to the presenters who came from member groups in the GTA, southwest of Toronto and the Collingwood region.
Each speaker made a ten-minute presentation (three per session) followed by questions and discussion from the audience. The four chairs had no trouble eliciting questions and everyone was diligent about time constraints.

The subject matter of the four workshops included how to set up and manage a group, finding volunteers to do the work, setting up the curriculum and the growing use of technology by various groups. Dr. Rowe discussed memory problems of aging and some techniques to help us.

“Planning started a year ago,” said TAN’s chair Nancy Christie, “and we were incredibly lucky to have a hard-working committee and much help from Ryerson staff.” A participant in the symposium commented that “it was such an enjoyable day with everything running smoothly. It was obvious that all efforts had been made to make us feel welcome and turn the day into an agreeable learning experience.”

The setup of the two rooms and the presentation and quality of the breakfast and lunch were
first rate. Apart from thanks to the presenters and chairs, kudos should go to the Ryerson staff, as well as Gaylen Racine who handled our audio visual superbly. We are indebted to Programs for 50+ of Ryerson for all their support through the planning of the symposium and also to the
School of Continuing Studies at UofT who supplied the gift bags for presenters.

Finally, a round of applause to the Third Age Network Symposium planning committee who have spent many months in the preparation of the day. They are Nancy Christie, Debrah Weiss, Judith Levkoe, Sandra Kerr, Margaret Robertson, Dugal Campbell, Barry Everatt, Loretta Fines and Sheilagh Hickie.

Stay tuned to a follow-up day sometime in the future!