Scones and songs ahead

A NUMBER of local groups have been awarded several hundred dollars in grants from the NSW Government to fund activities for Seniors Week 2008.

Grants of $4-500 for several local organisations were announced late last month and will be used for different events celebrating Seniors Week, which starts on Sunday, April 6.

The Illawarra Branch of the Older Women’s Network were successful in applying for some of the funding and will use their $400 to put on a special Seniors, Scones and Songs event in Woonona on Monday, April 7.

Arlene Little, one of the organizers of the event, said it probably couldn’t have gone ahead without the government money.

“We pay for the (Multicultural) choir because they have to come from Warrilla and we pay for the other choir (the Silver-T-O.W.Ns) and the catering and then paper work,” she said.

The Seniors, Scones and Songs event is open to all seniors, and it is hoped it will be an event that older people can feel comfortable at and enjoy together.

Ms Little said she hopes the event will attract a multicultural group as she feels people of some different backgrounds are underrepresented in the Older Women’s Network Illawarra.

The Older Women’s Network Illawarra holds monthly meetings as well as regular social events, and raise their collective voice about issues they feel strongly about.

“If there’s anything that we feel needs to be redressed we write letters, generally to (Federal Member for Cunningham) Sharon Bird, because she’s very helpful we give to charities and we’re connected with the UNIFEM (the United Nations Development Fund for Women),” Ms Little said.

Other groups that received funding under the NSW Seniors Week Grants Program were the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association, who received $400 to go towards an event to celebrate local seniors, and Bellambi Neighborhood Centre which received $500 for a similar project.