Cook and restaurateur Maggie Beer is congratulated on her award as Senior Australian of the Year 2010 by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and National Australia Day Council Chair Adam Gilchrist.

According to Maggie Beer’s website, her favourite summer refresher is “Verjuice on the rocks”, but she may have found something a little more effervescent to celebrate receiving the award of Senior Australian of the Year 2010.
If the choice of a “culinary icon” to receive the award signals that Australians are developing a new appreciation of what we eat and how we prepare it, it will make Maggie Beer a happy woman. She says her hope is that “by sharing her love of food she will inspire Australians to reconnect with food and appreciate what we eat”.
Outside her home state of South Australia, Maggie Beer is best known through the ABC TV program The Cook and the Chef, which she co-hosted with Simon Bryant, and through her delicious range of preservative-free gourmet foods (including Verjuice), which we find in upmarket delis and some supermarkets. She is a passionate advocate of the best Australian seasonal ingredients and is also author of several cookbooks; the latest, Maggie’s Kitchen, was published in 2009.
Maggie Beer joined Australian of the Year, Professor Patrick McGorry (Victoria); Young Australian of the Year, Trooper Mark Donaldson VC (WA) and Australia’s Local Hero, Ronnie Kahn (NSW), at the awards presentation ceremony on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra on the eve of Australia Day 2010.

Variety, the charity dedicated to enriching the lives of children in need throughout Australia, is out to rival the Santa Fun Run held in Liverpool. After re-scheduling the event, which was washed out by Melbourne’s unpredictable downpour, organisers hope to make history and create a sea of red Santas surging around Albert Park Lake on Thursday 10 December.
It is a perfect opportunity for Melburnians to be part of a history-making inaugural Santa Fun Run, while raising money for special children in need. “Grab your running or walking shoes, your Santa suit, and most importantly your Christmas spirit and join us on Thursday 10 December,” says fundraising manager at Variety Victoria, Cameron Smith. Those who don’t want to join the Santa throng walking or running, can certainly maintain the Christmas spirit by sponsoring a Santa in the run. The $30 registration fee includes a Santa suit. Santas taking part assemble at Palms Lawn, Albert Park Lane for a 6.30pm start on 10 December. To register, visit: www.varietysantafunrun.com.au/VIC or to sponsor a Santa: www.varietysantafunrunvic.gofundraise.com.au

If you called in at The Hub at the Melbourne Town Hall during the Victorian Seniors Festival in October, you no doubt viewed the 24 finalist photographs in the Evergreen Faces photograph exhibition and perhaps also posted your vote for the Telstra Connected Seniors Peoples Choice award via SMS and online.
Congratulations to Melvin Porter who won first prize with his entry ‘Who said it’s all down hill from here?’(pictured above). Second prize was won by Colin Ruehland with ‘It woodn’t go’ and third went to Barbara Ridley with her entry ‘U3A Topcats’. Colin Ruehland’s entry was also a clear favourite in the People’s Choice Award.
To view all the finalists in this competition, which aims to motivate Victorians to challenge the stereotypes associated with ageing, visit the website: www.evergreenfaces.com.au

More than 90,000 people of all ages participated in Walktober activities last year and we can swell those ranks for this year’s event.
The Victorian Seniors Festival ‘Go for your life’ Walks Program provides a great opportunity to join a group with a leader, or you can simply find a friend and ‘walk and talk’.
Bushwalking Victoria members will lead 20 free walks around Melbourne metropolitan and regional Victorian centres. Transport is available for all walks and you can choose the level of activity that suits you. Check the list of walks in the Victorian Seniors Festival program booklet (pp62-63), or visit www.walktober.com.au
You’ll also find that local municipalities have created plenty of opportunities to join interesting walks during this year’s festival. Yarra Council invites you to take a walk to Collingwood Children’s Farm or a historical walk in Barkly Gardens, Richmond; there are several history walks in the city of Port Phillip; and a guided heritage walk in Williamstown, just to mention a few.

Melbourne’s Federation Square will again be the scene for opening day celebrations for the 2009 Victorian Seniors Festival. Join the party between 10am and 4.30pm on Sunday 4 October for plenty of entertainment, information and activity.
Bookings open at 8.30am on 7 September for events presented by Victorian Seniors Festival, including the Melbourne Town Hall program of concerts. Festival program booklets are at Coles Supermarkets now, so pick up your copy and plan a wonderful week of activities, making the most of free metropolitan public transport available to Seniors Card holders from 4 to 11 October. Free V/Line rail and coach services are also available on 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 October, with reservations essential many long-distance services. Telephone 136 196 or visit www.viclink.com.au for more information on regional services.
Details of the Fifty-Plus News sponsored Melbourne Town Hall concert program are inside the September issue, together with more news about the Victorian Seniors Festival. Grab a copy from your usual outlet, or download the September issue at left.

For the past 14 years men, women and children aged from eight to 83 have discovered joys in Knox Shopping Centre that go far beyond window-shopping and spending money: they go Mall Walking twice a week.

This unique health and fitness activity now boasts more than 400 members and is still growing, with Mall Walkers walking for fun and fitness in the safe and weatherproof environment of the shopping centre.

Jean Horton, who has run the Mall Walking program for nine years, says that participants range from children to older residents wanting to keep up their fitness levels.
“Plenty of our Mall Walkers have had heart and hip operations and this provides a safe way for them to exercise,” Mrs Horton says. “They are under security surveillance and medical assistance is not far away if needed.”

There is also an important social aspect to Mall Walking according to Mrs Horton. Many walkers meet for coffee afterwards and Knox Shopping Centre provides free water and orange juice after each walk, as well as organising a regular movie screening for participants. Mall Walkers are also presented with an official Mall Walker T-shirt after walking 20kms with the group and receive discounts from many centre retailers. Many walkers have their own special tales to tell. Over a two-year period, June Nash lost more than 20 kilos by combining Mall Walking with healthy eating. A couple of years later she is still walking and now her husband Roger joins her twice a week since retiring.
“It’s such a safe environment and we are protected from the weather so you don’t have the excuse to say it’s too cold, too wet or too hot,” says June Nash. “It’s also a nice smooth surface with no bikes and no dogs to worry about.”

Knox Shopping Centre Mall Walkers meet every Tuesday and Thursday from 7.30am to 10am. To join, contact customer service at the centre, 9801 5966.