SIR – What is the role of elderly people in society today?

Last week, nurses spoke of old people awaiting treatment in the corridors of hospitals, and on television we saw an old lady who had been so viciously attacked she was hardly recognisable.

On the other hand we have also seen two elderly ladies at the ages of 86 and 90 win the prestigious National Sony Radio Award, truly a heartwarming story, as was that of the 83-year-old who had donated a kidney. He said he was too old to be a bone marrow or blood donor so he considered himself lucky enough to be in a position to help someone less fortunate than himself.

Without doubt, elderly people have many skills and a great deal of experience to offer in this materialistic society, and what they have cannot be bought and sometimes poses the question, who is living in the real world?

Just look in the school playgrounds, in meetings, in all churches to see the real value of the elderly which they continue to show on a daily basis.

Dennis Delaney, The Avenue, Clayton