Loss of Autumn Club would be a real blow

Loneliness and isolation among older people continue to be a blight on our society.

Too often our senior citizens are left to their own devices, often going weeks without human contact.

That is what makes groups and charities who try to end this scourge all the more important.

One such group is the Burnside Autumn Club. Set up over 25 years ago, the club brings in guest speakers, musical groups or workshops every Wednesday throughout the darkest months.

It gives elderly people the chance to meet others their own age and engage in a social activity.

The work the committee do is incredible, and that is why it was so dispiriting to hear at a Burnside Community Council meeting last week that the group was facing a bleak future,.

With little fresh blood wanting to take on the role of organising the group, there is a very real chance it could be lost, and that would be a travesty for all.

At that meeting, committee member Joyce Davis spoke of the energy and excitement that was felt at the first public meeting that led to the creation of the group.

Let us hope that can be recaptured and the Autumn Club, and other groups like it, can continue their great work.

You can read more, as well as check their full itinerary for the rest of the session, on page 16.

Also this week, on pages eight and nine, we have a special feature looking back on the great storm that hit Rutherglen and Cambuslang in 1968.

Halfway was one area that suffered a fatality, while many buildings in the area were destroyed.

My thanks go to all those who shared their memories with the Reformer.