All aboard for best years of your life
THe moving of the retirement age and lack of saving for pensions has affected the numbers of volunteers for charities. People are having to work much longer to be able to live. Without volunteers, many charities may have to close or restrict their opening hours, which is something our political leaders did not foresee. I am a member of what I like to call the ‘three-mile gymnasium’, aka the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway. The average age of the permanent way team, which keeps the railway in a safe condition, is 73. We thoroughly enjoy the hard physical work and there is no gym fee! We have 400 members, of whom 85 volunteer to run the railway. As well as being part of the permanent way team, I am a train guard, duty ops manager, hedge-cutter, Santa and platform sweeper. We have 12 steam locos, plus 42 diesel, one petrol and one electric, eight carriages and many, many sand skips.
NEIL CAIRNS, Leighton Buzzard, Beds. I SUPPORT the need to do something useful in the potential 25 years following a paid career (Letters). I retired in 2000 and within a short time I started volunteering as a tutor of english and maths in a young offenders’ institution. I joined the committee of a community charity and after a few years became chairman. As a horticultural assistant in a primary school’s outdoor learning department, I teach 233 children how to grow flowers and vegetables in a polytunnel. five years ago, I started an apiary in the school and all children from Year 4 upwards learn how important bees are to our food supply. Voluntary work following retirement helps occupy what might have been idle time and maintain my physical and mental health. At almost 78, I have no plans to stop.
DAVID WOODS, St Ives, Cornwall. WHeN I retired at 60, I travelled, but felt like a round peg in a square hole. I hate sitting down, had always spent my holidays cycling around Britain and europe and was at a loss about what to do in the winter. So, I applied for a job at a supermarket coffee shop and, 23 years on, I still love every minute. It fits around the time I spend caring for my sick husband and sister. If I didn’t get out of the house to go to work, life would be so boring. In the cafe, I love spending time with the youngsters, chatting, laughing and teasing each other.
Mrs H. HAZAEL, Brentwood, Essex.