Speaker Change – Wayne Bennett Reveals Benefits of Lifelong Learning

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young”. Henry Ford

Due to Professor Crawford being retained by the UN to speak in Korea, we had to find a replacement for the Mind Your Head Conference on August 12^th. We are delighted to have a superb Somerset speaker, who has worked in adult education for over twenty years.

Wayne Bennett is Chair of ARCA (formerly known as the Adult Residential Colleges Association).  He is also Director of Dillington House –Somerset’s residential centre for adult education.  After an initial career in the theatre he studied fine art and art history at Camberwell School of Art and Goldsmiths’ College,University of London. For two years he worked for the Contemporary Art Society based at the Tate Gallery.  He studied archaeology at Exeter University and for the past 18 years has been involved in archaeological research in the UK (including the Stonehenge Riverside Project) and abroad.  He is passionate about music and all things Spanish, so he should get on well with another of our conference speakers, Leontxo Garcia.

His theme will be to explore the issues raised in respect of older people in the Foresight Report ‘Mental Capital and Wellbeing’. This looks at how we can make the most of ourselves in the 21^st century and reviews models of lifelong learning provision from around the world. In line with the aims of  Mind Your Head Challenge, he will also focus on the opportunities missed in developing a coherent public policy around the benefits of learning throughout life.  http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/foresight/docs/mental-capital/sr-a10_mcw.pdf

We are extremely grateful to Wayne Bennett for stepping in and look forward to his presentation. This addition to the conference is ideal for anyone involved in the provision of adult learning or who wants to achieve the best for themselves throughout life.