The remaining social dates for this year are as follows:

The Address is: West Croydon and Kilkenny RSL, 19 Rosetta St, West Croydon.
Dancing starts at 1.30pm and concludes at 5pm at a cost of $15 (cash only). The program is run by request, and everyone gets a request form when they enter, to nominate 5 dances they would like to do. We try to ensure that you get at least one of those, but we only do about 5 Intermediate dances during the session, so don't just ask for really hard ones (or lots of unusual ones), or you could miss out altogether.
We have decided not to offer meals beforehand this year, as they were not being well supported and it was not economical for the caterers. Instead, we will return to the format we were using long before Covid-19, with a break about half way through, where we share a combined afternoon tea/supper for 20 minutes. Please bring a small plate of food to share with your fellow dancers. We will have minimal fridge space, and a pie warmer, but no oven, so please don’t bring food that needs cooking or defrosting. We feel this is a better way to assist people to mix and chat. Doors will open 30 minutes before the starting time.

We review our class charges every 3 years, and we were due an increase this year to cover the rising cost of rent and everything else since Covid. I have decided to only increase the cost of a 1 hour class to $10 and keep the others the same for this year. I recognize that with all the uncertainty in the world at the moment, and the increase in the cost of living, that an increase in cost for a line dance class might cause some grief to many of our customers. I cannot promise the same next year however.
The following classes will be closing due to insufficient support.

Our travel meeting was very successful, and our travel agent and the rep from Viking did a wonderful job passing on all the info we need to raise the excitement about the planned trips to new levels.
Opportunities to join us on our Turkiye, Egypt and Jordan holiday next year are almost closed, as we will have to release the held cabins in a few days.
Our 2027 offering for a Mediterranean Cruise is in full swing however. We do have a single lady in need of a cabin mate, should you be interested in joining us without a partner.
We are very comfortable with choosing Viking as our cruise provider again. Having experienced cruising with P&O, Hurtigruten, Royal Caribbean and Viking, we are convinced the quality of staff, tours and food is second to none of the others. All meals (even specialist), and non spirits drinks with meals are included, as is internet access, tours, gratuities and on board activities. We are also being given special on board credit as part of our group package that can go towards optional tours (Pompeii maybe) or spirits.
Our opinion is that if you are going to take the time and money to travel so far away, it is worth maximising the experience. To that end we are offering additional "bolt ons" both before and after the cruise to explore Greece, Rome and Malta. These are optional, and you can just pay for and go on the cruise and return home if you wish.
You can be assured that we are very experienced travellers, and can take the hassle out of organising all the component parts that make up a dream holiday without issues that you have to deal with. We understand it is not a cheap holiday, but the inclusions and assurances of quality make it very good value for money.
2027 - Greece, the Adriatic Sea, Italy and Malta (August)
After optionally spending 5 days touring Greece, we will embark on a Viking Coastal Cruise (not Mid Ocean) in Athens on the 7th August. The cruise will conclude in Rome 15 days later. After a couple of days in Rome we will optionally fly to the island of Malta for 6 days before returning home. Full itineraries and application forms are available from your instructors if you ask them, or email Peter and he will send you one via email. There is a companion flies free discount available for a very short time, but that opportunity runs out in a week. Cabins will still be available, but that discount wont last.
2028 - Finland, Baltic Sea Cruise, Switzerland (Autumn or Spring)
This one is still in the planning stages, but we intend to spend time in Finland prior to a Scandinavian/Baltic cruise, and spend some time traveling in Switzerland (with an alpine train trip) after the cruise. Any suggestions for itinerary content will be considered.

Following a conversation Liz had with one of her dancers, it seems that not all of our senior customers are familiar with some fundamental knowledge regarding their finances and their future requirements. Liz and I have, over the last few years, had to deal with both of her parents going into separate nursing homes, and eventually both passing away. I was the executor of both wills, and also did all of the finances relating to the nursing homes. As we are also approaching retirement age, we are dealing with our own financial planning and superannuation issues.
The following information has been gathered by these experiences, and your circumstances may be quite different, so do not take this as advice (we are not licensed financial planners), rather as providing awareness of issues in this area.
In this segment I will deal with nursing homes and the associated financial implications.
There are two circumstances to this issue. Firstly, if your partner is needing to go into a nursing home, but you are still planning on living in the jointly owned family home. Secondly, if you are single, or living alone, and you are requiring nursing home care. Either way, you need to understand what a RAD is. RAD stands for "Residential Accommodation Deposit", and is an amount of money you are required to find to "buy" access to a room in a nursing home. Each home will have a set amount, and each room may be different in price depending on its size and facilities. Each nursing home is also required, by law, to provide 40% of their rooms to customers that do not have enough funds to pay any RAD. There is a threshold amount that determines which category you are in, and whether you are required to pay the RAD.
This RAD is saved in an account by the nursing home, and the interest on this money is used to maintain the home and to upgrade the facility. It is not allowed to be used for food, wages or day to day expenses for the nursing home. These expenses are paid separately, and will consume a very large percent of your pension, which will be automatically deducted. Any remaining pension is available for medical and cosmetic expenses such as hairdressers etc. When the occupant of the room passes away, the RAD is returned to the occupiers estate in full to be dealt with by their will (there may be some bonus interest for the period of passing away and actually receiving the returned RAD, provided the room is vacated and available for another occupant).
If your partner is going into the nursing home and you are not, then some things in joint names (family home, family car etc) are not included in the calculation for your partner and will not need to be liquidated. So it is likely your partner will not be required to pay the RAD (Liz's father did not have to pay it), unless there are extraordinary assets such as investment properties or investment portfolios.
If you are living alone however, all your assets will be included in the threshold calculation, including all bank accounts, superannuation, house, car, etc, as was the situation with Liz's mother.
When we were looking for homes for Liz's mother (don't just check the room, check the staff, meals, security, entertainment and management as well), we found one we liked with a RAD of $425K. When we sold her mum's car, house and added in her savings, if came to about $350K. It was too high to get free RAD and too low to cover the whole RAD. I suspect many people fit into this situation.
The home offered to "Loan" Liz's mum the balance, with the interest payments on the loan being deducted from the the principal funds from her mother. This would mean that, over time, the amount of principal would decrease, so the amount of loan would increase, so the amount of interest would increase, and so on. Eventually, if the occupant of the room lasts for a number of years, the amount of principal could be completely whittled away by the nursing home till it no longer exists. Liz and her sister decided to "tip in" the balance from their savings in order to preserve their inheritance (which worked), but not everyone has the opportunity to do this.
This system works well if you are rich and can afford a RAD in a nice home, or if you are poor and don't have to pay one, otherwise it is an issue. If you are in between and don't have a benefactor to "top you up", then you might as well spend it down to the threshold while you can enjoy it, or offload assets in a way that the ATO and Centrelink approve of (get financial advice). Also note that the age care system is constantly changing, so these observations may not be valid in a few years.