Contact the Secretary Donella for further information Mobile 0409630319

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2023 Newsletters

Making payments to the QRTA

 

For all payments to the QRTA please use the following details and  always include your name and purpose of payment.

Association : QRTA

Bank : CBA

BSB  :  064116

Acc No : 10333757

President's Report for 2021 - 2022

It gives me great pleasure to present the annual report of the Queensland Retired Teachers’ Association for 2021/22

Welcome  QTU Vice President Leah Olsson  and Auditor John Wild

Members and guests

It is both happy and sad that we are holding our AGM today at Milton but due to Covid19 restrictions we are not able to visit schools as  we had done in  the previous years.

I would like  to welcome Leah Ollson  to our AGM today and thank her for coming and representing  Cresta Richardson who has meetings this morning. We thank the President of QTU for continuing as our Patron and I hope we will have many years of working together.

We are  indebted to the Queensland Teachers’ Union for allowing us to hold our monthly meetings at Graham Street Milton and to the staff who set up for us before each meeting.  During the lockdown / isolation  periods  the Executive used Zoom to conduct our monthly meeting.  I thank Donella for organizing and teaching us the use of this technology.

We would also like to thank the QTU for  including our membership information in their mail out to all teachers as they retire so they have knowledge of the benefits of belonging to our association.

At present Queensland Retired Teachers’ Association has members meeting in Brisbane and Rockhampton.  New members are contacted and encouraged to join the groups in their area. Recently we have been helping  a member from the Sunshine coast hinterland who is trying to form a branch in that area.  We wish them every success.

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 and  the Monthly Newsletter which includes the  the calendar of events and their details.

Those with email addresses get reminders about activities organised by the branches and also interesting information for seniors from other organisations such as COTA. The Newsletter has been  organised by Donella Lister and Peter Fenoglio.    We thank them for the great job. Sadly  Peter is no longer able to help with the technicalities  of the newsletter and we thank him for the wonderful job that he added to the layout of the newletter.  Another change with the newsletter is that we have moved the publication from the role of secretary and made it a stand alone positiion.  We thank Judy Brown for offering to take on this role. We can all help by sending any interesting information to Judy to add to the Newsletter.

Membership director, Bob Bell, continues to update the membership database which allows us to contact members about all the advantages of being part of this association.  At present there are many members registered throughout Queensland but only 360 are financial and receive the Queensland Teachers Union journal.

It is very exciting to be able to continue our advocacy for the needs of seniors through the support of the Department of Communities and their vision for fair, cohesive and vibrant communities.  Brisbane Seniors Network gives QRTA the opportunity to learn about other organizations dealing with the care of seniors and then pass on this information to our QRTA members. Any relevant information is disseminated through the Newsletter.

Sharing the load of Secretary, Donella Lister  has done an excellent job of arranging  interesting outings and keeping us informed of these activities and  Roger for  recording our every word and keeping record of our meetings.

Frank continues to look after all things monetary as we will see from the Treasurers report. During the year is was decided to transfer our financial business from the RACQ bank to the Commonwealth Bank.  Moving with the times we have introduced the use of a Debit Card which Frank can use to settle accounts for activities and make it easier for members to register their interest in attending an activity.

Des James continues to show the caring nature of our organisation by keeping in touch with members and informing us of their special occasions. It is with great sadness that Des has decided to retire from the Exective.  We thank him for his help over the years and wish him well. Hope you can continue to join us whenever you can.

Sandra Crawford has been our marketing member.  Thank you for keeping our website up to date. Sandra also helps with the organising of our functions held at the beginning of the year and the Xmas lunch.

Other Executive members, Ursula Blaszczyk, Carmet Harris and Norma Wiltshire contribute to the organizing of the association through their varied skills especially in organising morning teas.

Rockhampton organised a full program for their members with speakers or visits to interesting sites around the district.

For members closer to Brisbane or those visiting, the programme committee organised a variety of outings during the 2021/22  year.  

Our activities continue the philosophy of socialisation and lifelong learning.

We are indebted to the Brisbane City Council for a grant  through their Senior Celebration program to enable us to  fund activities. Sadly due to Covid  some activities have been cancelled. Many of these will be added to future programs Thank you Donella for all your hard work keeping us abreast of interesting places within our city.

We thank the QTU President Cresta Richardson for continuing in the role of Patron  Our association is strongly supported by the QTU from Union Librarian, Joan Crump who supervises our website; John Wild, the accountant who has audited our finances;  Andrew Belford for added our articles to  the QTU journal.

Thank you also to the Union Shopper who acknowledges the QRTA by continuing to give members’ access to products through their organisation.

I offer a sincere thanks to the dedicated executive members who work to keep this association afloat.    

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 2020/21

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 institutions 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
• access to the Queensland Teachers' Union library

All this in addition 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.

Fees are set at the Annual General Meeting.

Constitution, forms and brochures

QRTA Executive

Position	Name	Contact
Hon. Patron	Cresta Richardson
President	Noela Rogers
Vice President/Minutes	Roger Abell
Past President	Maida Lilley
Secretary	Donella Lister	Mobile 0409 630 319 Email: qrtasec@qtu.asn.au
Treasurer	Frank Atkinson
Membership Secretary	Bob Bell
Association Carer	Des James
QRTA Digest	Position vacant	Send articles by email to Secretary
Marketing	Sandra Crawford
Association Archivist	Position vacant
Committee	Ursula Blaszczyk Carmel Harris Norma Wiltshire

QRTA Executive meets on the first Tuesday of each month except January.