KPU Surrey offers TALK courses on submarines, brain health and the Chinese Communist Party for people 50 and older

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Surrey campus will offer a broad range of courses for people aged 50 and older this fall. Registration opened Sept. 9 for TALK, or Third Age Learning at Kwantlen, a non-profit volunteer organization in its 27th year of presenting short, informative non-credit courses at KPU sites in Newton, Langley and Richmond, as well as online.

Annual TALK membership is $10. Individual courses cost $20 to $25, depending on the number of sessions. Classes begin Oct. 2 at KPU’s 72 Avenue campus in Surrey with Ancient Communities and Vanishing Places, presented by Dr. Ross Pink of KPU’s Department of Political Science.

Other fall offerings include Basic First Aid at Home on Oct. 9 with Surrey firefighter Dan Amos; The Curious History of Colour in Art on Oct. 19 with retired art history instructor Linda Quigley; How Prescription Medicines Affect Cognitive Health on Nov. 18 with Alan Glasser, owner of Marks Pharmacy in Delta; and Submarines in Canada on Nov. 23 with former navy officer and lawyer Rod MacKinnon.

Hands-On Tech Support will run Dec. 2 and 3 with KPU’s Rahim Varani. Xi Jinping and Chinese Communist Party is scheduled for Dec. 11 with Dr. Jack Hayes of KPU’s History Department.

TALK field trips will visit KPU Farm & Garden at Bog on Sept. 29, Fraser Valley Rose Farm in Deroche on Oct. 7 and Oughtred Roasting Works in Delta on Nov. 27. Online offerings include Sticks and Stones: The Power of Words on Oct. 6, The State of the World’s Birds on Oct. 13, Financialization Strangled Economy on Oct. 14, Understanding Musical Biography on Oct. 29 and B.C.’s Marvellous Mushrooms on Dec. 7. The 44-page brochure is available at kpu.ca/Talk.

The organization also hosts Philosophers' Corner open forums, which do not require TALK membership. The donation-based sessions take place at Crescent Gardens, 1222 King George Blvd. in South Surrey, on the second Thursday of each month from 11:30 a.m. to 12:50 p.m.; lunch is optional and costs $20.

Fall forum topics are To Infinity and Beyond. Really? on Oct. 8, Environmental Report Card on Nov. 12 and The Notwithstanding Clause: Uses and Abuses on Dec. 10.