Monday (1st October) was National Older People’s Day which kicked off the autumn season celebrating the achievements and contributions that older people make to our society.

To respect, celebrate and be guided by the senior ‘elders’ of the community is an essential and inevitable wisdom in the communities of most ethnic cultures. But the value inherent in this behaviour has become somewhat disregarded in the race and pace of modern Western everyday life.

It is the European year for active ageing and solidarity between generations and given the demographic in balance in the UK – by 2020 over half the population will be 50 years plus – a more conscious effort to share skills and enthusiasms and to build on them is obviously essential.

Nowadays modern education tends, perhaps for economic reasons, to channel young people into a career rut at an early age in their studies. This discourages intellectual versatility and flexibility of character. This was not so for the post war generations, up until the seventies at least, who can therefore provide our society with a diversity of knowledge and experience which it is essential to tap at most levels – manufacturing, business and cultural.

Remaining in the ebb and flow of everyday business and social life generates ongoing energy and ideas and contributes at every level. Day to day aids for daily living are now available to combat the practical challenges of physical ageing and enables people to go on functioning independently in their own homes. We should be taking far greater care of our ‘elders’ because they have a very great deal to offer and we are fools if we fail to recognise this and to make the most of what they can and want to give to the wider community.