WAYNE BENNETT AND VALERIE SINGLETON JOIN FORCES ON LIFELONG LEARNING

Lifelong Learning Is Good For Your Health - Official

by Wayne Bennett, Director of Dillington House, Somerset - a premier lifelong learning and business conferencing centre.

A GOVERNMENT think-tank recently produced a wide-ranging

study concerning mental health and wellbeing. Sir John Beddington –

the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor – said that the most important single thing we can do help to maintain a quality of life in older age is

to keep learning. The conclusions were astonishing in claiming that one of the most powerful activities any individual could do to stave off the misery of depression and anxiety – especially in older age - was to keep learning.

Learning allows for an engagement with the world and the great issues that confront us all. It obviously improves our knowledge and widens our horizons in the process. It brings us into contact with other like-minded people and it challenges our own beliefs and opinions. Learning can also give us a deep sense of achievement and this improves our self-esteem and sense of wellbeing.

On July 17, Mr Bennett was at The Retirement Show at London's Olympia to join forces with TV presenter and writer Valerie Singleton, in a seminars organized by Discount-Age on the benefits of continued learning for the over 50s. Valerie, who is a director with Discount-Age, was introduced to a myriad of fascinating educational topics offered by Dillington House when she moved to the West country.

"I couldn't believe this was being offered by a county council-run facility and neither could I believe how beautiful Dillington House was.

"I have signed up for dozens of courses which have opened my eyes to so many news subjects in such a fresh and refreshing way. I'm a convert.

"And the courses were so well attended. I had to make sure I booked early and still missed out on some, which shows the huge demand."

While many similar educational centres are facing cuts backs or even closure, Somerset County Council has backed five-star Dillington's ability to deliver both in learning and business conferencing, by recently investing £2.3 million in a high-tech arts and ecologically-friendly accommodation facility. The Hyde, which, features boutique-style bedrooms and lecture studios overlooking the Somerset countryside is also fully accessible for disabled people.

For further information, interviews or photographs, please call:

Wayne Bennett, Dillington House : 01460 258 648

email: wbennett@somerset.gov.uk

Note for editors: Dillington House is Somerset County Council’s residential centre for professional development, adult education and the arts. Founded in 1949, it has been offering lifelong learning opportunities for nearly sixty years. The arts play an important role in creating the unique ambience which is Dillington. Although Dillington House is wholly part of Somerset County Council it operates without public subsidy and is responsible for meeting all of its costs. The Main House dates back to the 16th century and is one of the most beautiful houses in Somerset and features in Simon Jenkins’ book England’s 1000 Best Houses.

The accommodation is in a range of bedrooms, most of which are en-suite, that are located in the House, the Mews or the Hyde. Dillington House is neither an hotel, college nor simple conference centre. It is uniquely something special at which everything and anything is possible. Standards of service and accommodation are very high and Dillington remains the only establishment to have been awarded 5-stars by the English Tourism Council under their “Campus” quality assessment scheme.