Who can join the QRTA?

Membership is open to:

• All retired teachers, teacher aides and library aides for Queensland State and non-state schools, colleges and other educational insttitutions whether at pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, special, technical or advanced educational  levels 
• Any retired person who held a position allied to education after accepting promotion or transfer for teaching
• Any retired person  who held a position allied to education in an interstate or overseas educational institution
• Any spouse of any financial member, or spouse of a deceased member who makes application for membership
• Any retired staff member of the Queensland Teachers' Union, the Queensland Teachers' Credit Union or the Queensland Teachers' Union Health Society who makes application for membership

Benefits of QRTA membership

Financial members of the Queensland Retired Teachers' Association [ those who have paid their "additional Membership Benefits Fee} receive:

• a subscription to the Queensland Teachers' Union Journal (currently 8 issues per year)  - QRTA have a "Retired Teachers' Column" in each issue of the Journal
• A copy of the QRTA Annual Program
• A subscription to the QRTA digest (currently 4 issues per year)
• the use of the Union Shopper for discount buying of an ever increasing range of goods and services. This is the only way retired teachers can maintain access to the services of the Union Shopper

All this in additions to

• social gatherings
• forums and discussions
• entertainment
• group activity
• up to date information about a range of issues relevant to our needs
• cultural activities
• outings and excursions

Fees

As from 1 July 1999, to join the Association, members will pay a Membership fee of $20 and an Additional Membership Benefits Fee of $5, ie a total of $25 for the first year's membership.

Each year, in order to retain the benefits, an additional Membership Benefits Fee (of $5) will be due on 1 January, and is to be paid before 31 March of that year - ie membership RENEWAL is $5 per year.  (Download the renewal form here)

Fees are set at the Annual General Meeting.

QRTA Executive 2013

Presidents Report for 2012

It gives me great pleasure to present the annual report of the Queensland Retired Teachers' Association for 2011/12 and to welcome guests:

• Graham Maloney from QTU
• Gail Woods Union Business Manager
• Brett McCredie from Union Shopper
• Chris Burgan Guest speaker from Newstead House
• Member and guests

We are indebted for the Queensland Teachers' Union that allows us to hold our monthly meetings in this building and to the staff who set up for us before each meeting. We would also like to thank the QTU for allowing staff to include our membership information in their mail out to all teachers as they retire so that they have knowledge of the benefits of belonging to our association.

At present Queensland Retired Teachers' Association now has 431 financial members across the state who receive the QTU Journal and the Digest. These members meet in Brisbane, Townsville, Rockhampton, Maryborough and Toowoomba. Branches at Townsville, Toowoomba and Maryborough have opted to become social groups only and meet regularly for lunches and outings. New members are contacted and encouraged to join the groups in their area. It is interesting to note that while many teachers have retired from teaching jobs their spare time is minimal as they are now ready to embark on new careers, pursue travel ambitions, volunteer in many areas or just relax with family.

Members are reminded that subscribing to the Association not only brings the advantages of access to the Union Shopper but the chance to keep abreast of education trends through reading the Queensland Teachers' Union Journal, the QRTA Digest and the yearly calendar of events of all branches which comes in the package.

Membership director, Bob Bell, has collated an up to date membership database which allows us to track and contact members about all the advantages of being part of the association. He and Roger Abell are·also in the process of compiling an email database with which to notify members of forthcoming events.

Continued marketing of the QRTA is an ongoing task which Des James does with enthusiasm. Thanks to his efforts we negotiated with Education Queensland to have information about our association included intheir publication, Education Views. Des continues to work with QTU and our website.

The Digest through editor, Mavis Pearse, disperses information to the wider community of retired teachers. Harold and Noela Sutcliffe continue to send messages in time of joy and also need.

The Queensland Retired Teachers' Association is represented on the Seniors Roundtable, which comprises of representatives from Association of Independent Retirees (AIR), Australian Pensioners and Superannuants League (APSL), Council on the Ageing (COTA). Representatives have meet monthly and worked closely with government on seniors' issues and needs by advising Government Ministers and departments on budgets and policies which will benefit all seniors. Maida Lilley is our representative and she keeps us up to date with information about Elder Abuse, Seniors Week, Grandparent's problems and the need for Power of Attorney and Advanced Health Directive documents.

As a follow up to the Positively Ageless - Queensland Seniors Strategy 2010-20 workshop, an interested group has been formed, namely the Brisbane Seniors Network to which I have been invited to join. It is very exciting to be able to continue our advocacy for the needs of seniors through the 2010 -20 strategy which aims to support the Department of Communities vision for fair, cohesive and vibrant communities.

All branches continue to organise great activities for their members. While Toowoomba, Maryborough and Townsville enjoyed lunches with a variety of speakers. Rockhampton had tours of the Historical Mater Hospital building, the Rockhampton Ambulance Service, the Quay Street Heritage Building, the Rockhampton Art Gallery and also arranged interesting guest speakers who spoke on a range of subjects such as Ergon Energy.

For members closer to Brisbane or those visiting, the programme committee organised a variety of outings. A tour of Ipswich Workshops and Rail Museum brought back memories of early rail in Queensland; in October a group visited the Queensland Art Gallery to marvel at the beautiful photographs of Henri Cartier Bresson. The 2011 Christmas celebration function was held at the Queensland Teachers' Union building. This proved a great success as members were able to mingle freely with friends and associates. At the annual get together at the Irish Club in March and the lunch at COTAH we welcomed anumber of first time attendees thanks to numerous posted invitations and members contacted by phone. Two more activities allowed members to extend their historical knowledge. First, a tour through the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium and then a guided tour of the Port of Brisbane increased our knowledge of shipping coming to. our city. We look forward to more history with a trip to the Red land Museum andanother visit to the Queensland Art Gallery later in the year.

During the year we saw our Patron Steve Ryan retire and we thank the incoming QTU President Kevin Bates for accepting the role of our Patron. Our association is strongly supported by the QTU. The QTU Business Manager, Gail Woods, has been our honorary auditor for many years. Union Librarian, Joan Crump, supervises our website. QTCU, now QTMB, has printed our annual state program which is distributed to members at the beginning of the year. The Union Shopper acknowledges the QRTA by continuing members' access to products through their organisation.

I offer a sincere thanks to dedicated executive members who work to keep this association afloat. To Pam Mackenzie our secretary for many years for keeping me up to date; to our treasurer, Frank Atkinson who deals with all things monetary; to Vice President Roger Abell for his continued support; to Jim Pearse whose knowledge supports both the work of Mavis and the Digest; to Tom Sims who keeps our archives up to date and to Christine Bennett in her first year on the Executive.

Finally I would like to thank all members for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the life of seniors and for your friendship and encouragement throughout the year.

Thank You.

Noela Rogers
President QRTA 2012