TRIVIA TEST
1
What is stored in a tack room?
2
Which Motown group recorded the song “My Girl”?
3
What does the colloquial term rock-hopper refer to?
4
What type of creatures are arachnids?
5
What do the letters SARS stand for?
6
Where was Australia’s second settlement established?
7
What is the valley between waves called?
8
Which fruit is grown extensively in the Coffs Harbour area of NSW?
9
What did Aboriginal activist Harry Penrith change his name to?
10
Which Australian swimmer won four gold medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games?
FOR local people who saved to retire, things are pretty tough according to Dubbo Orana Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association president Ken Windsor.
Dubbo Photo News caught up with the group which has a regular meeting every second Friday.
“We have interesting guest speakers and we talk about the issues that affect elderly people in the Dubbo district,” Mr Windsor said, pointing out it’s important for a sense of fellowship and information sharing to have regular meetings.
“We get the odd person who has really been driven by the authorities to a point where they’re really suffering and we can help them get out of that situation.
“We have a head office in Sydney and they are a lobby group both with the state and federal governments. They do a great job advocating for us.
“Often we have members who have been in a similar position, or have had a similar experience, and they can also help. It’s what we’re all about and it’s group therapy because everybody gets together and they’re not afraid to speak about what’s going on. We encourage that.”
Mr Windsor says the lack of meetings during the worst of last year’s Covid lockdowns really brought the importance of the regular CPSA meetings to the fore.
“I was getting phone calls almost daily asking when we’d be meeting again and we missed about four meetings but then we started meeting in rooms that had a good Covid procedure and we were able to maintain the flow,” he said.
Mr Windsor said it’s been an incredibly challenging environment for retirees, with interest rates almost in negative territory for people with investments, with costs going up and almost zero return on money in the bank, making planned retirements a rocky road.
“It’s more than difficult. It’s almost unbearable in some instances. (For) investments in super funds the returns were so small and the fees to manage them were going up that it was better to take it out and put it into fixed deposits in the bank and they’re still returning less than one per cent – that money isn’t maintaining its value.”